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fr*&/^ a**j&crT7 d^/^^A 
A TOUR 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES, 

CUBA, AND CANADA. 



HENRY ASHWORTH, ESQ. 



A COURSE OP LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE THE MEMBERS 



BOLTON MECHANICS' INSTITUTION. 



LONDON : 

A. W. BENNETT, 5, BISHOPGATE-ST. WITHOUT (E.G.) 
FRED PITMAN, 20, PATERNOSTER ROW. 

MANCHESTER : 

JOHN HEYWOOD, 143, DEANSGATE. 



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PEEFACE. 



A year lias now elapsed since the delivery of the 
last of these Lectures ; and the whole of them have- 
been reported as they were delivered, and published in 
the "Bolton Chronicle" newspaper. 

The political troubles of recent time have tended to 
increase the interest in American affairs, and applica- 
tions have been made for a, republication of the whole, 

They are therefore submitted to the public, not as 
a literary production, but as a descriptive review of the 
sights and occurrences of a six months' tour. 



The Oaks, Bolton, 
May, 1861. 



A 

IOUB IN THE UNITED STATES. 



FIRST LECTURE. 



?N accordance with the request of your Committee, I 
am now about to offer to the members of this Institu- 
tion the gleanings of that information which has been 
gathered during an absence of six months, having 
one of my daughters as my companion. It is not my 
intention to reduce my observations into heads or 
chapters, but throughout these lectures to carry on a sort 
of renewed intercourse with every locality I have visited, 
and thus to facilitate my descriptions by the localising of 
my ideas and recollections. By this arrangement I hope 
I shall be able to diffuse over every evening a greater 
variety of local interest, and a wider range of expression 
of opinion, more especially upon slavery and politics. In 
respect of these, and upon all other matters also, I shall 
endeavour to represent very faithfully whatever I may 
have heardj leaving to yourselves to draw from my 
observations whatever conclusions you may think proper. 



6 . A TOUR IN THE 

It will be admitted that the desire to travel abroad is 
commendable. It springs from that enlarged desire for 
knowledge which is sure to lead to the discovery of some- 
thing acceptable, whether in arts, science, literature, 
agriculture, commerce, or in the study of those institutions 
which have relation to political or civil life. Its grati- 
fication affords to the eyes, as well as to the mind, an 
unspeakable delight in the contemplation of those wonders 
and beauties of nature, which are to be found in every 
country as essentially its own. And, in our own ex- 
perience, the enjoyments have far outweighed any risk of 
disasters. The hazards of crossing the Atlantic may 
appear serious to many persons, but their real insig- 
nificance becomes obvious when we bear in mind that the 
Cunard Steamers have been constantly sailing, week by 
week, for nineteen years, without any loss of human life. 

Our outgoing passage was boisterous, being early in 
the month of January. The sleet and snow became 
frozen, and for some days prevented our taking exercise 
on deck. The sun was overcast, and many a time 
prevented the captain from taking his noonday observations 
of the course we were steering. The storm broke one of 
the paddle boxes ; the waves entered the chimney ; the 
passengers were confined to the saloon, and, deprived of 
the power of enjoying out- door exercise, were compelled 
to fill up the time with reading, chess playing, and other 
amusements. 

We landed safely at Hew York upon the coldest day, 
as we were told, that they had ever known. The naviga- 
tion of the rivers had been closed, and from day to day 
great anxiety was excited by rumours of serious disasters 



UNITED STATES, 7 

on the coast. The streets of the city presented an anima- 
ting scene, being traversed by sleighs instead of wheel 
carriages. To a stranger the use of sleighs in winter 
presents a novelty and singularity which gives it an almost 
fantastic appearance ; many of them are open conveyances, 
very superbly mounted,—- often filled with ladies, and well 
supplied with wrappers of buffalo skins, and other furs ; 
and despite the biting frosts, the travellers appear to enjoy 
the dry and bracing wintry atmosphere which prevails in 
that country. 

The city of New York stands upon a neck of land 
forming the point of Manhattan Island, having on two of 
its sides navigable waters of about a mile in breadth, 
which separate it from the two adjoining cities of Jersey 
and Brooklyn. Betwixt these two cities and New York 
there is a continuous stream of intercourse, carried on by 
steam-boats of a very commodious construction. The 
centre part of the deck of each of these boats forms a r 
sort of street, running from stem to stern, which is often 
crowded with carts and carriages. On both sides of the 
water, the point of the boat enters the street, and as the 
tides rise only six feet, the joint of the landing-stage 
adjusts the height of the boat to the level of the street. 
In this way, the moment that the boat has been moored 
in one of these street grooves, the carts and other con- 
veyances move onwards without hindrance. Upon each 
of the sides overhanging this central part of the boat, 
there is an elegant reception room provided for the 
accommodation of the foot passengers. The comfortable 
style of arrangement thus provided for passengers, ap- 
peared to contrast very favourably against the exposure 



8 A TOUR IN THE 

on deck and the scanty accommodation which passengers 
on the Mersey are accustomed to receive in passing from 
Liverpool to Birkenhead ; and the fares which are charged 
are very low indeed. 

The locality and design of the city of New York, bear 
evidence of foresight and provision for sanitary require- 
ments which cannot be too highly appreciated. The same 
may also be said of Philadelphia and other principal cities 
on the sea-board. In order to estimate the necessity for 
the adoption of such precautions which the builders of 
these towns have so wisely kept in view, we must bear in 
mind the nature of the climate to which their inhabitants 
are exposed. We in Lancashire, who are residing about 
54 degrees of north latitude, are in an atmosphere which 
is humid and cold, and therefore we may build our towns 
and cities without any especial regard to the promotion of 
currents of air through our principal streets. The leading 
cities of the United States are nearly 1,000 miles south of 
Lancashire, or about the same latitude as Spain or 
Portugal; and the consequent prevalence of heat and 
fever renders it necessary that their principal streets 
should be so built as to intersect each other rectangularly, 
and with openings to the sea which surrounds them, so 
that the currents created by the rising and falling of the 
tides may aid their ventilation. The straight lines of 
streets, and the formation of square blocks of houses, gire 
an unpicturesque stiffness to the appearance of a city; 
but this arrangement has its advantages in affording 
facilities for the discovery of any given house or street by 
a numerical system, after the manner of longitude and 
latitude; such a number, for instance, as that of 1,105 



UNITED STATES. 9 

means the fifth house in the eleventh street. Broadway 
is the principal street in N ew York ; it is nearly the 
width of Eegent Street, in London, and the shops 
and fancy stores resemble Eegent Street, though the 
display in the windows is less imposing, and is, perhaps, 
less carefully studied by the proprietors. This street is 
already a good many miles in length, and is laid down 
with a view to become extended beyond any limits at 
present conceivable. The original habitations, which 
were made of wood, have given place to others of brick, 
and now the brick ones are being moved to make way for 
enlarged structures of marble. The value of property in 
Broadway has increased amazingly. The residence of a 
gentleman, with a frontage of 22 feet, which thirty years 
ago cost him £600, was last year sold for £15,000. 

In some of the streets they have adopted a mode of 
conveyance by railway cars drawn by horses. This has 
been found useful and cheap, but the inhabitants complain 
of the damage which is sustained to the estimation of the 
streets wherever they have been introduced. The utility 
of one-horse cabs they do not appreciate. We never saw 
one. They have their hackney coaches, with two horses 
each, such as we formerly kept on hire, and the fares 
appear discretional or according to bargain. Upon a rainy 
day, the sum of two dollars, or 8s. 4cl., was demanded as 
the fare for half-an-hour. I offered one-half the sum, and 
it was declined. I then directed the attention of the 
driver to the string of twenty other carriages, all waiting 
to be employed, and remarked upon the uncertainty of his 
making any money at all within the next half-hour. He 
very coolly replied — " The rain is falling very fast, and I 



]0 A TOUR IN THE 

guess I'll spec, it:" or in other words he preferred to 
speculate upon the chances which might offer; and so I 
left him. 

The Fifth Avenue is the most splendid street in New 
York. From one point of observation there stands before 
you an array of modern-built mansions, perhaps un- 
equalled for their magnificence. There are in London 
many individual mansions of greater splendour, but taking 
the street as a whole, there is an appearance of archi- 
tectural design and completeness which is rarely to be met 
with. In one of these houses, where we called upon 
the family, the drawing-room was one hundred and thirty- 
five feet in length, and was very tastefully decorated with 
pictures, statuary, and works of art, which had been 
selected in various parts of Europe, and secured by a 
lavish outlay. The dining and other rooms of the house 
appeared of large proportions, and elegantly furnished. 
The entertainments given by the wealthy citizens, are 
frequent in occurrence, and many of them are upon a 
large scale. In one instance we found that the number 
of guests was upwards of seven hundred, and the house 
was not over- crowded. 

The hotels are enormously large ; many of them are 
provided with three hundred beds in each, and others as 
many as eight hundred to one thousand : the lower rooms 
fronting the street are being used as shops, and the upper 
rooms form the hotel. In numerous instances we found 
that they were resorted to not alone by travellers, but as 
the temporary home of newly-married persons who had 
entered upon life without sufficient means to begin house- 
keeping. It appeared somewhat repulsive to one's ideas 



UNITED STATES. 11 

of married life for the husband to be absent all day attend- 
ing to bis pursuits, leaving bis wife, perhaps not twenty 
years of age, to amuse herself amongst the company of the 
bouse, picking up all sorts of acquaintance, moving about 
in those beautiful entertaining rooms, and mixing at the 
table d'hote with every variety of strangers who might 
happen to be present. From such a beginning it cannot 
be wondered at that young people should imbibe the desire 
for a course of life beyond their means to sustain. With 
a beautiful city, and every arrangement that can be 
required for the promotion of cleanliness and order, it is 
greatly to be lamented that the offensive state of the 
streets should shock the feelings or interrupt the comfort 
of the visitor. The municipal authorities are inexcusable 
for neglect of duty in this "respect, and if one-half of what 
was reported of their corrupt practices was true, they are 
deserving of punishment. 

THE MONEY PANIC. 

You will doubtless be desirous to hear something 
concerning the recent money panic, and the troubles 
which have overtaken the tradespeople there ; and, if 
possible, some sort of conclusion in relation to its origin. 
The solution of this may not be within our province to deal 
with; but it would be impossible for any English mer- 
chant to visit jSTew York, and not perceive that there are 
commercial practices, and extravagant habits, which are 
sufficient of themselves to account for a great deal of this 
calamity, which in its rebound has so seriously affected 
us. It would be wrong to lead you to suppose that the 
conducting of business in the United States was altogether 



12 A TOUR IN THE 

on a bad principle. This is not the case. There are 
many wealthy capitalists whose businesses are conducted 
in a most unexceptionable manner : and notwithstanding 
all this appearance of unsoundness, the solid wealth of 
New York is rapidly increasing. The great bulk, how- 
ever, of the trading and mercantile classes, are represented 
as being always on the stretch, doing large business upon 
small capital, and year by year spending every shilling 
of their profits, and perhaps something more. They enjoy 
a singular facility for doing large business out of small 
means, by making sale of their trading risks. They are 
in the practice of selling bills of exchange without en- 
dorsement for whatever amount the credit of the drawer 
and acceptor may be worth. In this manner persons of 
small capital may sell goods upon six or eight months' 
credit ; . the bill received in payment they may again 
convert into its saleable value in cash ; and thus go on 
trading until, by some disaster, the house of cards is 
overthrown. 

Credit was said to be easily obtained, and that there 
was great facility for opening a business, or for making a 
change from one pursuit to another. The attainment of a 
business position, based upon enlarged experience, which 
in this country is so much valued, appeared of so little 
concern to many persons in the United States, that they 
would willingly abandon one trade and run into another, 
expressing themselves quite confident that they fully 
understood the trade they were entering upon. Extrava- 
gance and fast living appeared to prevail to an incredible 
extent, and the ladies were said to understand this as well 
as the gentlemen. An instance was remarked upon, and 



UNITED STATES. 13 

a lady pointed out to us who was moving about with her 
carriage and attendants, and living in great style upon the 
faith of an invention which her husband had recently pa- 
tented. We saw this invention, and considered it to be 
utterly worthless. It found no favour with the public, 
and a month or two afterwards we heard that the building 
containing the patent had been destroyed by fire ! 

Passing away from New York, it did not surprise us 
to hear, in other parts of the country, severe remarks upon 
that city and the citizens. A gentleman who had left 
New York, after having resided there upwards of twenty- 
eight years, considered it the most money-making city in 
the world, and perhaps the most reckless in extravagance 
and expense. Another gentleman, one who resided in 
another part of the country, in expressing his dread of the 
harrassing effects of extravagance, most gravely declared 
that he would allow himself to be sent up in a balloon, 
not knowing where he might drop, rather than consent to 
marry a wife from Xew York. There is a generous 
sympathy in the citizens which is highly becoming. 
Their public institutions of a charitable nature do them 
great credit. Upon the adjacent island of Biackwell, they 
have an orphan asylum for about 1,000 children, besides 
their infirmary, lunatic asylum, penitentiary, and other 
similar establishments. The public schools of the city 
are their best institutions ; as indeed they are the best 
institutions of America. 



14 A TOUR IN THE 



RAILWAYS. 



Our first excursion by railway was from New York to 
Philadelphia. The carriages, or cars, as they are called, 
are of great length, and accommodate from forty to fifty 
persons in each. Down the centre there is a passage 
having a door at each end, and on both sides of the passage 
there are seats placed crosswise, holding two persons. All 
the passengers (coloured persons excepted) are looked upon 
as of one grade, the same as in travelling by an omnibus. 
The whole of the company sit exposed to each other, and 
whatever conversation may be going on, is within the 
hearing, and exposed to the remarks, of the passengers 
immediately surrounding. Most of the railways have 
only one line of rails. In their engineering they gener- 
ally select level ground, have very few tunnels, and seldom 
or never have they any bridges passing over the lines of 
railway. The engineer rings a bell when he approaches 
a crossing, and a notice board is erected to warn the road 
passengers, with an inscription in large letters — " Eailway 
crossing : w T hen the bell rings, look out for the engine/ ' 
The sides of the railways are unfenced, and by way of 
provision against any interruption or accident, an iron 
grating is attached to the fore part of the engine, which 
they call a " cow-catcher," for securing or removing any 
animal or other obstacle lying in the way. The railway 
companies do not provide porters, as in this country, 
to attend upon the passengers and aid them in the 
removal of their luggage : and those who are the guards 
or other servants of the companies, do not usually 
carry upon them any livery or other insignia of authority. 



UNITED STATES. 15 

This idea of independence, no doubt, furnishes the 
opportunity for many of the paid servants to skulk 
from the performance of their duty ; and to a stranger 
who may be travelling, it is a master of considerable 
inconvenience. There is an appointment of baggage 
clerk attending the trains, who, at a small rate of charge, 
undertakes the care and delivery of luggage, and this 
department is well managed. 

MAGNITUDE OF THE COUNTRY. 

As we are now beginning to explore the country, let 
us cast ®ur eyes upon the map, and take a little thought 
about the geography of that portion of the Western 
Hemisphere, which now constitutes one of the great 
powers of the earth. The surface area is computed at 
three millions of square miles, and is divided for purposes 
of local and judicial administration into forty states, as 
England is divided into forty counties ; but in order to 
form some sort of estimate of the difference of magnitude, 
we must put down the state of Xew York, which is by no 
means the largest, as of the same extent as England ; or, 
in other words, the surface of England and Wales being 
49,000 square miles, that of the state of New York is 
47,000 square miles. The population of the whole of the 
States in 1850 was, of whites, 19,553,068 ; free coloured, 
434,495 ; slaves, 3,214,313 : total, 23,191,876.* It is 
evident, therefore, that the country must be very thinly 
peopled, and that there are existing a vast extent of 



' By the last Census (1860), free population, 27,648,643 ; slaves. 
3,999,853 .-—total, 31,648,496. 



16 A TOUR IN THE 

natural resources, still unappropriated. A wide field is 
thus afforded for the enterprise and capital of generations 
jet unborn. 

Perhaps there is no other country in which the inhabi- 
tants have already accomplished so much within so short 
a period. Kiver navigation is nowhere so extensively 
carried on, nor so well understood ; and their railways 
extend to 26,000 miles, being more than half of all the 
railroads in the world. 

These manifestations of progress are unmistakeable. 
They denote the prosperity of the country, and the pre- 
vailing energy of character in the people, as w T ell as their 
confidence in those institutions under which they live. 
Passing along, by railway, through the agricultural 
portion of the country, the grassy surface of the fields did 
not appear lively and green, but of a dark brown colour, 
as though every blade had been deadened by frost. The 
fences surrounding the fields are formed of splits of timber 
trees, cut down in clearing the land. They are placed 
in layers, in a zig-zag form, the points resting one upon 
another, and, being held clown upon each other by their 
own weight, they don't require to be fastened together 
with nails. The whitethorn fence, such as we have in 
this country, appears to be unknown in the United States, 
or if it grows at all, it is not planted for field fences. The 
stumps of the trees cut down encumber the ground, 
interrupt the straight current of the plough, and the 
appearance of them in such great numbers indicates a 
slovenly style of farming ; but the trouble and expense of 
their removal appear to prevent any systematic proceeding 
to have the ground cleared of them. In some few instances 



UNITED STATES. 17 

the ground has been cleared by the stump extractor, an 
apparatus formed as a compound lever, mounted upon 
wheels, and wrought bv a pair of oxen. 



PHILADELPHIA. 

This city is the capital of the State of Pennsylvania. 
and owes its origin co that noble-minded Christian states- 
man, William Perm, whose memory is still greatly 
honoured by the citizens. It was during a period of 
religious persecution in England, that it became his 
declared object to establish this colony, and thereby to 
u afford an asylum to the good and oppressed of all 
nations ; to frame a government which might be an 
example to the world at large, and thus to show men as 
free and as happy as they could be." The house in which 
he resided in the city, and the locality of the elm tree under 
the shade of which he entered into treaty with the Indian s, 
are still cherished objects of regard. Since the date of this 
treaty in 1682, the city and suburbs have become of great 
mercantile importance, and contain upwards of haif-a-mil- 
lion of inhabitants. The principal streets run east and west, 
and they are crossed at right angles with other streets 
running north and south : some of them are upwards of 
one hundred feet broad, and their names indicate the rural 
simplicity of their origin, such as "pine, spruce, walnut, 
chesnut, &c." The State House is the most interesting: 
object. It was hi the hall of this building that the 
" Declaration of Independence' '' was signed in 1776. 
Philadelphia upholds a reputation for philanthropy, and 
possesses upwards of forty institutions for benevolent pur- 
poses. The Girard College, which is the largest of them. 
B 



18 A TOUR IN THE 

was founded by an eccentric individual, Stephen Girard, 
as an Asylum and School for Orphans, at the cost of nearly 
£400,000. The principal building is after the design of a 
Greek temple, and is the most imposing and costly edifice 
in the United States, excepting only the Capitol of 
Washington. 

Having spoken of the existence of more than forty 
institutions of a benevolent character, it will not be 
necessary to define the particular purposes of each ; those 
which we saw were on a large scale, and well conducted. 
It is deserving of notice, and highly honourable to have to 
record, the readiness with which the wealthy classes come 
forward, when called upon, for any public object. We 
heard of the proposed enlargement of an asylum, at the 
cost of £50,000, and the subscriptions soon amounted to 
nearly £60,000. In another instance, which also occurred 
during our visit, an enlargement of a public park was 
proposed, the money was very speedily raised ; and we 
heard of two brothers — the Messrs. Cope — who had sub- 
scribed £2,000 each. 

SCHOOLING AND EDUCATION. 

Throughout the historical proceedings of the United 
States, there abounds one universal expression of solici- 
tude for the training and education of the youth, not alone 
for material and spiritual advantages, but to enable the 
rising population to wield with effect the representative 
v power which has been vested in their hands. This duty 
has not been taken up by the federal government, but has 
been undertaken by each and every one of the individual 
states, and is being conducted at an unsparing expense. 



UNITED STATES.. 19 

As an instance of the operation of the system, we will 
take the example of Xew York. The city is formed into 
wards, each of the wards elects its own board of officers, 
and the officers so elected form a board of education, 
invested with power to erect schools, and conduct every 
arrangement in relation to schooling. In this manner every 
elector has, once a year, the opportunity of making selec- 
tion from amongst the candidates offering, of that indivi- 
dual whom he is most willing to entrust with the education 
of his own children, and with permission to lay a tax 
upon himself for the payment. According to the census 
of 1855, the population of New York was 629,810. 
The number of public schools in 1856 was 253, the 
teachers employed were 1,200, the number of scholars in 
attendance at these schools was 47,584, and the expendi- 
ture of the year was £220,000. These schools are open to 
children of every grade in life, to receive any amount of 
education they may desire ; and in the High School, or 
Free Academy, the students may remain to the age of 
twenty-one. One of the principals assured us that educa- 
tion in the public schools was adopted with the same 
freedom by the rich as by the poor ; that the sons of the 
labouring hod-carrier and those of the highest citizens were 
frequently found side by side in the same class ; and that 
by reason of such contact, the delicacy of habits prevailing 
among the sons of the wealthy did not degenerate into 
gross demeanour, but, on the contrary, the sons of the 
working class were but too glad to avail themselves of the 
examples of the more refined, as a means, in then- opinion, 
whereby to promote their own advancement in life. 



20 A TOUR IN THE 

It has been found that the characteristic gentleness of 
female teachers is very important in the influence they 
exercise upon children ; and as there is also an economy 
of wages in the employment of females, they are very 
extensively engaged in school teaching in every part of 
the Union. At the Normal Training School of New 
York, the attendance was reported to be from six to seven 
hundred female teachers. The schooling of Philadelphia 
is of the same character as that of New York, excepting 
only that it is conducted at less expense, because the 
directors hire a good many of their schools, instead of 
building school premises of their own. 

The interest attaching to education in the estimation 
of the public, we had the opportunity of observing. At the 
closing of the term of the High School, there was an as- 
sembly of upwards of 4,000 persons to witness the display 
of school attainments of the students who were leaving. 
The day was held as a gala day. The school directors, 
along with the students, occupied the platform of a large 
hall, and the students acquitted themselves with great 
ability in the delivery of compositions of their own, in most 
of which the amiable qualities were prominent, together 
with an earnest patriotism, — altogether affording the best 
guarantee of individual comfort and national progress. 
The enthusiasm of the audience was almost unbounded. 
Upon those who displayed most cleverness, the ladies 
showered bouquets of flowers ; and the gentlemen ex- 
pressed their encomiums without measure. The exhibition 
lasted about three hours, and was closed by a very fatherly 
exhortation from the principal to the pupils. He reminded 
them that " they were now entering upon the affairs and 



UNITED STATES. 21 

duties of life ; that they were each of them in possession 
of a certificate of their collegiate proficiency, and of their 
unblemished reputation; and he enjoined upon them ever 
to uphold those high principles of religion and virtue 
which had been inculcated by their teachers ; and in 
whatever condition of life they should hereafter be found, 
that they should cherish with esteem the remembrance of 
those who had thus laboured for their welfare.' 7 Indeed, 
from the established character of the students, the demand 
for them is so large, that they are regularly advertised for 
by the merchants of the city : indeed it is a noble spectacle 
to observe the manner in which America is engaged in the 
training of her sons, 

COTTON XAXUFACTURE. 

Near the Falls of the Schuylkill we visited some exten- 
sive cotton mills. This concern had spinning and weaving 
for 1,200 looms. The manufacture was a description of 
strong cloth for trousers, wrought into twills, stripes, and 
checks, of almost every shade of colour, to the extent 
of 300 varieties. The cotton was dyed in a raw state as 
it came from the bale, by being immersed in the dye vats 
in wire baskets for about twenty-four hours ; afterwards 
it was dried, and carefully opened for operation for spin- 
ning. There was a great deal of ingenuity displayed 
in the weaving department, especially in the arrangement 
of the shuttles carrying the different colours of weft, 
and in their displacing of one another in the forrrmtion 
of the patterns. The goods were bleached and calendered 
on the spot, and the bales were packed and sent away in 
readiness for distribution to the retail trader of the south. 



22 A TOUR IN THE 

BALTIMORE. 

Passing from Philadelphia to Baltimore, about 100 
miles distant, the railway is intercepted by the Susque- 
hanna river, at a point which is about a mile in breadth, 
and the crossing of passengers is effected by a steam boat. 
Upon [this occasion the boat having got frozen amongst 
the ice, the passengers were invited to walk across the 
river upon planks, in order that they might escape the 
holes and tender parts of the ice. The danger appeared 
imminent, but we crossed in safety. 

The city of Baltimore is situated upon the Potapsco 
Eiver, entering the Chesapeake Bay. A century ago it 
consisted of nine houses only, and in 1850 the population 
had reached 169,054. We arrived late in the evening, 
and next morning the object we first saw before us was 
a monument of white marble, called the "Battle Column/ • 
to commemorate the names of those who fell in defence 
of the city when attacked by the British forces in 1814. 
Baltimore has been called the monumental city, probably 
by way of compliment to the public spirit of the inhabi- 
tants in the erection of another monument, 176 feet high P 
in memory of Washington, whom every true American 
honours as the "Father of his Country." We thought 
there was an aspect of great respectability prevailing 
about the city. 

The most important-looking edifice is the Mechanics' 

Institute, 355 feet long and 60 feet wide ; the principal 

hall holds 6,000 persons. Baltimore is largely engaged 

in the export of grain and flour. It is the natural outlet 

or a large region of country which is principally under 



UNITED STATES. 23 

grain cultivation. Flour mills are numerous, and in one 
of them we saw a very systematic and economic arrange- 
ment for grinding, preparing, and barrelling of the flour. 
There are also several large manufactories of agricul- 
tural implements. The proprietor of one of these allowed 
us to see through his works ; and the extent of his trade 
may be estimated by his annual business returns, one item 
of which consisted of 5,000 ploughs, besides other farming 
implements and- tools, ranging from the thrashing 
machine to the churn and wheelbarrow. Timber for these 
purposes is cheap, and may be had at Is. per cubic foot. 
The ploughs and other implements are not constructed of 
iron, as in this country, but of wood, and the several parts 
are wrought by machinery, through the various operations 
of planing, grooving, morticing, and shamfering of the 
edges. Each of these several parts being of uniform 
shape, can be warehoused, and afterwards sent away in 
execution of orders. 

WASHINGTON. 

This city is not only the seat of government, but the 
great centre of political existence in the United States. 
Our visit occurred upon the expiration of the official term 
of President Pearce, and before the inauguration of Mr. 
Buchanan, when the legislators, the planters, merchants, 
and others of the most stirring people of the country 
were present. The opportunity thus afforded enabled 
us to enjoy a most acceptable range of intercourse, as well 
as for observing and forming an estimate of the social, 
civil, and political aspect of this metropolis of the States. 
Previous to the year 1790, Congress had been accus- 



24? A TOUR IN THE 

tomed to assemble at Philadelphia. At the suggestion of 
General Washington, a territory of one hundred square 
miles in extent, was appropriated as the future seat of 
government. The design of the city was executed under 
the direction of Washington himself : the streets appear 
unnecessarily wide — they radiate from two central points, 
and take their names from the various states of the 
Union. The " Capitol' 7 or Houses of Parliament, is an 
immense mass of building of white marble, and when the 
enlargement now in progress has been completed, the 
entire edifice will cover four acres of ground, and will 
be the most magnificent public building in the United 
States. Tn the centre is the Eotunda, of ninety-six 
feet diameter, and in the panels which surround the 
basement storey, there are four b as -relievos of historical 
subjects of great interest to that country, such as Penn's 
Treaty with the Indians ; the Landing of the Pilgrims, 
&c. &c. 

There are several other public buildings which are 
noble specimens of architecture, such as the Treasury, 
the Patent Office, the Post Office, and the "White House/' 
the residence of the President. The public monuments 
of General Washington and of Jefferson are interesting 
objects ; and the Observatory also, which is in charge of 
Lieutenant Maury, the well-known author of a work of 
great merit on the u Currents of the Ocean." 

The Smithsonian Institution is a very large modern 
building, ornamented with towers in the Eomanesque 
style of architecture. This institution owes its existence 
to an English gentleman, who, having led a life of retired 
and studious habits, left a large sum of money to be 



UNITED STATES. 25 

expended at Washington, for the fonnding of an " Estab- 
lishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
among men. 7 ' The professors and those who have 
charge of it, are making rapid progress in carrying 
ont this enlightened design, and already a beneficial 
influence has been derived by the diffusion of scientific 
knowledge, annually distributed amongst the literary 
institutions of every country. One of the subjects of 
leading interest with the executive council, has been the 
collection of portraits of Indian Chiefs, and others of 
celebrity of that race who are now fast disappearing 
from the country. We saw a gallery of about a hundred 
portraits. Many of the characters were strongly 
marked by nature, and bore the indications of a rude, 
thoughtful kind of intelligence ; but their lineaments 
were miserably defaced by the decoration, as they con- 
ceived, of tatooing. The architecture of the Patent 
Office is after the celebrated Pantheon. The object of 
the building is to afford the necessary accommodation 
for patented inventions. Model representations are ex- 
hibited in great numbers, and there are also some speci- 
mens of natural history, &c. ; but amongst the most 
interesting of the articles we saw, was the original 
manuscript Declaration of Independence, with all the 
signatures attached ; and the printing press which had 
been worked by Franklin at the time of his first residence 
in London. 

The associations of Yfashington became suggestive of 
a widely different and more important study than that of 
city architecture r Taking a comprehensive survey of the 
brief and successful career of the United States, it 



26 A TOUR IN THE 

appears necessary that we should comprehend the political 
organisation which has founded and sustained an extent 
of national and individual prosperity hitherto unexampled. 
The recognition of the " Sovereignty of the People" 
seems to have formed the basis of all American institu- 
tions. The founders having sprung from one dead level, 
it has been their policy to establish an electoral power of 
the widest range, and thereby to uphold the self-respect 
as well as the authority of the citizens, by placing entirely 
in their hands the determination of fitness of every 
candidate for official appointment, whether in the town- 
ship, the city, the county, the state, the federal legis- 
lature, the appointment of the judges who administer 
the laws, or the President of the Union. The frequency 
of electoral appeals appears to have a sustaining effect 
upon the independent character of electors. They all of 
them insist upon being considered "citizens," and not 
" subjects," of the state ; and so jealous are they of their 
independence, that they make constant display of it in the 
everyday concerns of life, and to an extent that borders 
upon rudeness. 

Each state is an independent republic, having a local 
character in its functions, and a representative character 
in returning its senators to the legislature. Congress 
consists of a Senate and a House of Eepresentatives. 
The Senate is composed of two members from each state, 
chosen as before stated by the legislatures of the several 
states, for the term of six years, one-third of whom go 
out biennially. The senators must be thirty years of age, 
nine years citizens of the states, and inhabiting the 
state for which they are returned. The regular number 



UNITED STATES. 27 

is 62 ; and the Vice-President of the United States is 
President of the Senate. The House of Bepresentatives 
is composed of members from the several states, elected 
by the people for the term of two years. The representa- 
tives are apportioned among the different states, according 
to population. The present number is 234, besides 
eight delegates returned by Oregon and other recent 
annexations, who are allowed to speak, but not to vote. 

The annual salary of the President is £5,000 

That of the Vice-President and seven others of the Exe- 
cutive Department who form the Cabinet, each £1,600 

The compensation allowed to members during attend- 
ance in Congress, is (per day) £1. 13s. 4d. 

And for every 20 miles of travelling, in going to and 
returning from the seat of government £1. 13s. 4d. 

The revenue for the year 1856, derived from customs 
and the sale of public lands, was £14,783,000 

The expenditure in the army department, 12 ; 6S8 sol- 
diers, was £3,389,639 

In the navy department the number of the men is not 
given, but the cost is £2,815,000 

The legislature allows of no pensions ; and if any 
warlike emergency should arise, they contract with 
generals and other officers for a given period of service, 
at a fixed rate of payment; and when the service is 
ended, the parties so engaging again retire into private 
life, or resume some profession or pursuit, as other citizens 
do. Our introductory letters brought us into a wide range 
of intercourse with the leading officials, and with many 
members of the two Houses of Congress, which we deemed 
not only a privilege, but a source of enjoyment. 

The Senators appeared older and more deliberative men 
than those of the lower house. An inquiry was at that 
time pending in which the parties concerned, who were 



28 A TOUR IN THE 

members of the lower house, were charged with corrupt 
practices. This inquiry, and the proceedings of the 
Congress, were interesting to a stranger, and therefore 
we may relate some portion of what occurred. One of the 
representatives introduced us into the body of the house, 
and before the business commenced, we had an agreeable 
conversation with the Speaker. 

When the Speaker had taken his seat, a venerable- 
looking old ;man ■ immediately rose, and proceeded to 
invoke a blessing upon the deliberations of the day. 
We remarked to our friend the member, that their Con- 
gress, unlike our Parliament, allowed the chaplain of the 
house to enter their presence unadorned with any official 
gown or sacerdotal dress. He replied, " You will not see 
any finery here, — neither the Speaker nor any other official 
is distinguishable by any outward badge of servitude. 
The old gentleman, the chaplain, as you are pleased to 
designate him, is one of the few remaining officers 
who served his country in the War of Independence ; 
he is now 94 years of age, and is not well provided for, 
therefore he is willing to accept a small sum annually, 
not as a pension (you know that pensioners we have 
none), but by way of compensation for coming once 
a day to ask a blessing upon Avhat we are doing/ 7 Every 
member has a writing desk before him, and nearly every 
one appeared absorbed in giving attention to his corres- 
pondence ; and very few took any notice of the proceed- 
ings of the house. It was very common for a member 
to be seen addressing the house under considerable 
excitement, whilst those who were sitting close at hand 
would be coolly engaged in writing letters or turning 



UNITED STATES. 29 

over folds of papers, and looking quite unirnpassioned. 

We observed an instance of irregularity and want of 
attention in taking the votes. A member whose name 
was called over answered "Aye." Some time afterwards 
this gentleman appeared to discover that he had made a mis- 
take, and requested permission of the Speaker to have his 
votereversed, alleging, as his reason, that he had been en- 
gaged at his desk, and had inadvertently voted the wrong 
way* Leave was given, and the vote was reversed. 
Another instance was one of amusement ; it was that of a 
motion for a grant of money to explore the river Mger 
in Africa ; and the clerk at the table, in reading the form 
of resolution, fell into the very understandable error of 
proposing a grant of money for exploring the river "Nig- 
ger!" There were other proceedings which would be 
equally open to remark, as indicating a legislative disre- 
gard of that dignity which would be becoming of an 
assembly upon whom there is resting so weighty a re- 
sponsibility. 

SLAVEHY. 

Discussions of a party political character were frequent, 
and we did not fail to notice that the subjects upon which 
the parties appeared most confident, often proved to be 
those upon which, in reality, they were most nervous. 
For instance, slavery was in everybody's mouth. Those 
from the north would exclaim against the sin and the 
reproach which rested upon their country by reason of 
the proceedings of the south, — ever making parade of 
their own example in having liberated the slawes which 
had belonged to themselves. The southerners were not 



30 A TOUR IN THE 

slow to remind those of the north that they had taken 
care to hold possession of their slaves until they had got 
a sufficient supply of white emigrants, from Ireland and 
from Germany, whom they greatly preferred to serve 
them; and it was then, and not before, that they had 
sold out their slaves to the south, or had turned them 
adrift and having called upon the rest of the world to 
extol their philanthropy, they had thrown reproach upon 
the southerners, who they well knew had no white emi- 
grants to fall back upon. Incidental remarks bearing 
upon the subject were often being bandied about. The 
southerners would appeal to the northern men, whether 
they had ever known an instance in which a member 
of an American family had become a domestic servant; 
and the answer uniformly given was, that such a case was 
unknown. Upon this admission, the case against the 
northern people was deemed conclusive, namely, that the 
northern people who required such servants would have 
retained to this day the slaves they held, if the emigrants 
from Europe had not, in so convenient a manner, super- 
seded the necessity of their retaining possession of them 
any longer. It was remarked of the negro race, that in 
those states where they had been liberated from slavery, 
they had not only not increased as the white population 
had done, but that they had gradually diminished in 
numbers, chiefly by reason of their want of forethought, 
the neglect of their children in infancy, and the improvi- 
dent and reprehensible courses which they pursued. 

A gentleman from Philadelphia, an eminent merchant, 
one of the visiting directors of a large philanthropic in- 
stitution, and who was by no means favourable to slavery, 



UNITED STATES. 31 

expressed his sorrow and regret that within a mile of his 
own city residence he could find, in the dwellings of the 
free blacks, a greater extent of distress, squalor, and 
misery, than conlcl probably be found in any other place 
in the world. These remarks may serve to indicate the 
state of party feeling, and the spirit in which the subject 
was being discussed in Washington. The northern peo- 
ple feel sore, and express themselves strongly as being 
dishonoured by the slavery of the south, and the south- 
erners complain of the oratorical and maddening excite- 
ment kept up by the north. 

AMERICAN SMARTNESS. 

You have no doubt heard of the " smartness " of the 
Americans. An instance of this kind of sharp practice 
may serve the purpose of illustration. One morning, 
whilst we were loitering about in the entrance hall of the 
hotel, an errand boy inquired if he might fetch a news- 
paper from the office, next door. Having brought the 
paper, and received a five cent piece, he called out 
sharply, "It is all right, sir," and was walking away. 
Referring to the cost of the paper, which was only two 
cents, we remonstrated ; and he insisted that his claim as 
messenger was three cents ! He then turned round in a 
jaunty way and holding up the five cent piece, called out 
" Here's the money, and if you think my charge too 
much, you. can give me back the paper, and fetch one 
yourself." 

This description of " smartness " would appear to 
receive encouragement, if we may judge from the remarks 
of an American traveller, lately returned from Europe, 



32 A TOUE m THE 

who was describing the English hotels, cab-drivers, por- 
ters, &c, and with an air of exultation he remarked that 
he had been better cheated in the three weeks since his 
return to America, than during the whole eleven months 
of his absence in England, 

We do not in any unfriendly spirit remark upon 
the political and other occurrences at Washington : indeed 
it would appear ungenerous not to acknowledge the 
very acceptable manner in which we were received by 
families residing in the city, and by great numbers of 
visitors from all parts of the union. 

Leaving Washington, we descended the Potomac 
Eiver by steamer, passing the mansion of Mount Vernon, 
which will ever be memorable as the residence of 
General Washington. Landing at Aquia Creek, we 
joined the railway, and proceeded to Charleston, a 
distance of 650 miles, without leaving the carriages. The 
time occupied was forty-eight hours; the journey was 
harrassing, and there was not any midway station wdiich 
afforded the appearance of comfort. The principal part 
of the way was through pine forests ; the country was 
thinly inhabited, and the population were mostly employed 
in procuring turpentine from the trees. 

On our way through Eichmond, the train received 
about fifty negro slaves, as passengers to New Orleans. 
About one-half of these were men, and the rest women 
and children. They were well dressed, and appeared 
less painfully impressed with their condition than we 
should have expected. One of the conductors informed 
us they had carried about 6,000 in the previous six 
weeks. 



UNITED STATES. 33 



SECOND LECTURE. 

CHARLESTON — SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The city and locality of Charleston introduced ns into 
that region which constitutes the party-political division 
of South against North, and North against South, and the 
subject of slavery came more immediately under our obser- 
vation. This city, like the cities of New York and Phil- 
adelphia, is situated upon a neck of land betwixt two livers, 
or sheets of water, and stands in front of a wide bay upon 
the Atlantic. The formation of the streets, and arrange- 
ment of the houses into square blocks, also resemble the 
northern cities ; but with this exception, that here the 
houses are mostly composed of wood, and the sides of the 
streets are lined with magnolias, palmettoes, and other 
shady trees, with ornamental gardens. The population is 
about 45,000, nearly one-half of whom are slaves, or free 
coloured. 

A considerable portion of the inhabitants are of French 
origin, being the descendants of those who took refuge 
here at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
The people are frank and hospitable, and the general 
tone of society is refined and intelligent. The business 
department of the city is principally that of receiving 
for export and distribution the productions of South Caro- 
lina, consisting mostly of cotton and rice. In the year 

1804, the port of Charleston was allowed to be opened for 
G 



34 A TOUR IN THE 

four years for the importation of Africans, and during that 
time 202 vessels are reported to have entered with slaves 
from that country. Of these 

The imports in British ships were 19,649 

Do. French ships 1,078 

By Citizens of the United States 14,605 

Do. Slave-holding States 3,443 

Total number imported 38,775 

Our attention was directed to this tabular statement, 
shewing that the great bulk of the slaves imported were 
brought thither by the natives of those countries which 
are now the foremost in repudiating slavery. It deserves 
to be recorded as an event of some interest in the 
commercial history of Charleston, that in the year 1832 
the inhabitants, together with those of the whole of South 
Carolina, took the lead in the Free- Trade movement, 
by resisting a high tariff of duties for the avowed pur- 
pose of protection, and to encourage the establishment of 
manufactures in the States of the North. At that time 
South Carolina was the chief producer of raw cotton, 
the great staple article of export, and therefore she would 
be the principal sufferer from the designs of the protec- 
tive system. She had herself no manufactures to protect, 
and could procure all she required for her own consumption 
far more cheaply from the British manufacturers, who were 
her best customers for the raw produce. She also felt 
the dread of retaliation which might have resulted from 
a design so pointedly aimed against the interests of Great 
Britain. At length this state made a display of military 
force, and formed an organized attack upon the whole 
protective system of the Union, and thereby a political 



UNITED STATES. 35 

crisis ' was produced which menaced the stability of the 
Union by the threatened nullification of its acts. 

Until this time the idea of a dissolution of the Union, 
although it might have been conceived, had not been out- 
spoken. The tariff dispute, however, invested that 
question with all the appearance of substantial reality. 
The contest assumed a bold position, and this premedita- 
ted dissolution of the Union by the parties of the South, 
was speedily followed by a preparation for collision. 
South Carolina raised and armed her troops, and they were 
being marched and drilled in sight of the Federal forces. 
At length, however, the pending evil was averted by a 
compromise. The spirit of free-trade still survives in 
Charleston, and it was quite animating to receive the con- 
gratulations of Charleston upon the success of our free- 
trade proceedings in England. 

The locality of South Carolina and Georgia will ever J 
possess an interest with those who are engaged in the 
spinning and manufacture of Sea Islands cotton. The 
factories of Bolton are said to consume a greater quantity 
of this cotton than those of any other place ; therefore, 
the subject of its growth may be deemed of some con- 
siderable interest, from its being so intimately connected 
with our local industry. Possibly those who have been 
engaged in the operations of spinning Sea Islands cotton, 
may not have considered how large an amount of employ- 
ment they have afforded to those engaged in the manufac- 
ture of light and beautiful fabrics, as well as lace, at 
Nottingham, Leicester, and Derby. The finest specimens 
of this raw cotton are sold for as much as four shillings 
per pound. A single pound of it has been extended by 



36 A TOUR IN THE 

spinning to the length of 1,000 miles ; and when manu- 
factured into lace it has even become of the value of £200. 
It would, therefore, be difficult to find any other raw 
material, — the precious metals scarcely expected, — fur- 
nishing so large an extent of employment as is now capa- 
ble of being supplied by the manipulation of this kind of 
cotton. 

According to Mr. Elliott, one of the oldest planters of 
Sea Islands cotton, in his "Address to the Imperial Agri- 
cultural Society of France," in 1855, the seed of this 
plant was brought from the Bahama Islands to the state 
of Georgia, between the years 1785 and 1790; and after- 
wards it was introduced into South Carolina, the state 
whicli is now the largest producer. It is upon the small 
islands of these states, which arc watered by the tides of 
the Atlantic, that this cotton is grown. Upon some of 
these islands which we visited, more particularly Edisto 
Island and John's Island, we received very friendly 
attention from the most distinguished of the planters ; — 
gentlemen whose names will be familiarly known to our 
chairman, and to other cotton spinners now present, such 
as Elliott, Townsend, Seabrook, Mikel, and others : and it 
is to the politeness of these gentlemen that we are indebt- 
ed for the information we possess upon the cultivation of 
this delicate plant. The growth of Sea Islands, more 
than any other kind of cotton, is influenced by climate, by 
the composition of the soil, and by the state of the atmos- 
phere. The plant is extremely sensitive of the effects of 
air and vapour; hence, in some favoured localities, the 
quality of the production improves, and in others not far 
distant it degenerates. The lands which are most favour- 



UNITED STATES. 37 

able for its cultivation, are the numberless small islands 
extending along the sea coast, and divided one from 
another by narrow creeks, which receive tidal waters from 
the sea ; and also the river waters descending from the 
interior of the country, loaded as they are with alluvial 
matter, which forms a deposit. These islands, and the 
lands lying adjacent, which partake freely of a saline atmos- 
phere, having a dry soil that admits of a dressing of sea 
mud, in which silex prevails, are the favoured grounds for 
the skill of the planter in raising the choicest of his crops. 
Those lands which are lying more distant from the at- 
mosphere of the sea, if dry and well manured with sea 
weeds, salt mud, or the sweepings of the farm yard, to 
stimulate the growth, will also yield successful crops. 
But, eventually, it is found that distance from the sea 
forms a barrier which the use of saline manure is unable 
to overcome; and when the cultivation is attempted in 
such places, even at the distance of ten miles from the 
ocean, the result is coarseness and inferiority of staple. 

In the month of February the ground is cleared of the 
deadened stalks of the previous season; it is then ploughed 
into drills of four and a-half feet asunder, and the manure 
is introduced during the operation. In the months of 
March and April, according to the state of the weather, 
the seeds are deposited. From this time till the month of 
August, the plants are thinned and weeded, and the roots 
nourished by raising up a layer of soil by the plough or 
the hoe. In August, the bolls are so far ripened that the 
picking or harvesting is commenced, and for several 
months afterwards all hands are busied in gathering, sort- 
ing, cleaning, ginning, and packing the cotton. The pro- 



38 A TOUR IN THE 

duct varies from 120 to 150 lbs. of cleaned cotton to the acre, 
and from three to five acres may be cultivated by each 
hand. The quantity of seeds which are raised in propor- 
tion to the cotton, appears very considerable ; and in fine 
cottons it frequently happens that only one pound of clean 
cotton is derived from five pounds of the ripened pods 
which have been gathered. The plant is liable to receive 
severe injury from the visits of a great number of insects, 
— and more particularly from a caterpillar which feeds 
upon the leaves and unripe pods, sometimes destroying as 
much as three-fourths of the entire crop. The incursions 
of the caterpillar are not annual, but periodical : sometimes 
they are not seen for four or five years in succession. 
The Sea Island plant has now been introduced into the 
state of Florida, and appears to promise an agreeable 
amount of success. The quality of the cotton hitherto 
raised in Florida has been inferior to that of Georgia and 
South Carolina, but it is very useful for the generality of 
purposes. The annual crop of Sea Islands is about 
45,000 bags. 

There has recently been introduced an improved 
machine, called the "Macarthy Grin/ ; for separating the 
cotton from the great mass of seeds by which it is sur- 
rounded in the pod. It performs a much larger quantity 
of work than the roller gin previously in use ; and appre - 
hensions have been raised that this new process would 
injure the staple, but hitherto it had not been ascertained 
to have had any pernicious effect. Any injury, however 
slight, would be greatly to be dreaded by the planters . 
and on several of the plantations we found that although 
the Macarthy gin was regularly employed in cleaning the 



UNITED STATES. 39 

commoner kinds of cottons, the roller gin was still resorted 
to for the finer kinds. 

In travelling through these islands, many of them 
appeared to be overflowed by the tidal waters, and tanks 
were formed for collecting deposits of mud. Those which 
were uncultivated were covered with long grass, reeds, 
and bulrushes, and we saw that alligators were moving 
about upon them. All this moisture so widely distributed 
over the country, together with the decayed vegetable 
matter lying exposed to a scorching sun, appeared to 
afford every element for the creation of those malignant 
fevers which cause the white man to flee to the mountains 
or to the sea coast during the summer, whilst to the negro 
they are harmless vapours*. The estate of a cotton 
planter looks fertile and pleasing to the eye of the be- 
holder — teeming with every production of grain as well 
as cotton ; the gardens and orchards also, with every 
variety of flowers and fruit ; the homestead with animals 
and fowls of various kinds, all indicating the pleasing 
aspect of abundance. The possession of it, however, in- 
volves an immense amount of responsibility,— one which 
the generality of persons wo aid be extremely desirous to 
avoid. The negro community by which the planter is 
surrounded, recognise in him their possessor, and there- 
fore they look to the hand of their master in every emer- 
gency which befalls them. There are seen about his 
dwelling hundreds of men, women, and children, some of 
whom are too old to labour, others too young ; some of 
them willing, and others unwilling to work ; some quar- 
relsome, others contented ; and every one running to him 
for whatever they may have need of, whether in health or 



40 A TOUR IN THE 

in sickness. Hospitals, with well-trained nurses in at- 
tendance, are regularly provided by the planters ; indeed, 
if no higher motive existed than their pecuniary value, it 
would be of importance that the slaves should be sus- 
tained in health. It was, however, very obvious that the 
proper feelings of humanity did predominate. One gen- 
tleman, whom we remarked looking careworn and ex- 
hausted, informed us that for six weeks he had been giving 
personal attention — night and day — to the nursing of sixty 
of the children of his slaves, who had been having the 
measles ; that the occasion for his continued presence had 
been, not alone to administer the medicines, but to pre- 
serve the children from unsuitable treatment, even from 
their parents. 

The labour on the plantations is mostly conducted on 
a system of piece-work, which the labourers can easily 
perform in six or eight hours ; and afterwards they have 
the command of overtime for cultivating their own little 
patches of ground, or for raising their fowls and pigs for 
their own individual profit. As it is more than fifty years 
since any of the negroes were imported from Africa, those 
of the coloured race of America, although of African 
blood, are now, in effect, the naturalised population of the 
country. On some of the principal estates the removals 
have not been frequent ; and in these cases the ties of 
local and social attachment are said to be strong. Being 
upon Edisto Island on a Sunday, we attended one of the 
chapels, which belonged to the Presbyterian body. The 
congregation was large, probably as many as 600 were 
present, of whom there might be about 200 white and 400 
coloured persons. The coloured people were all of them 



UNITED STATES. 41 

slaves ; they appeared comfortable, well-dressed, and 

many of them rather showy. It was the day of Com- 
munion, and at the close of the sermon, about eighty of 
the whites partook the ministration of the Sacrament. 
When they had retired, the table was surrounded by 
about 120 of the coloured people, and we observed that 
the minister, elders, and deacons again officiated in like 
manner, and the same degree of solemnity and decorum 
was manifested by the coloured recipients. We inquired 
of one of the ministers in attendance, whom we afterwards 
met, whether this religious service that we had observed 
was at all unusual ? and he informed us that it was not, 
but that on the contrary, there was upon John's Island, 
which is adjoining to Edisto Island, and in the congrega- 
tion over which he had charge, a much larger than this num- 
ber of coloured communicants ; and in the Methodist and 
Episcopalian bodies there, the number was considerably 
larger than in his. This gentleman was originally from 
Scotland, and as he had resided seventeen years in South 
Carolina, he had become attached to the country. He 
said he could relate a great deal that would appear sur- 
prising, of the religious feeling and very becoming de- 
portment which had come under his notice in his inter- 
course with the coloured population. That although he 
still retained many of his early impressions in relation to 
slavery, yet the many painful scenes he had witnessed 
amongst the poor dependent classes in Great Britain and 
Ireland, had not passed away from his remembrance. 
That he often contrasted these recollections of his early 
life, with the state of things around him in South Carolina, 
where the negro had to incur the loss of his liberty ; and 



42 A TOUR IN THE 

he felt convinced that, on the whole, the negro was a 
gainer in the amount of care and attention which was 
daily exercised by his employer for his welfare, and in the 
greater amount of domestic comfort he was enjoying, as 
compared with the peasantry of places which he could 
name within the British Isles. 

Upon our return to Charleston we remained some days 
amongst our friends, before setting sail for Cuba; and 
this time was very agreeably spent in social intercourse, 
and in our observation of whatever might be interesting 
about the city. Before the rapid rise of the cotton grow- 
ing states on the Mississippi, the state of South Carolina 
was the chief producer of short- stapled cottons, such as 
we now receive from New Orleans. A considerable quan- 
tity of this class of cotton is still produced in South Caro- 
lina and the adjoining states, which is shipped at 
Charleston; but the unexhausted soils of the West 
have attracted many of the planters from South Carolina, 
and, therefore, the export trade of Charleston has not, of 
late years, increased in the same extent as that of New 
Orleans or of Mobile. The bay of Charleston is incom- 
moded with sand, which obstructs the navigation ; and we 
found that an ingenious mechanist there had invented a 
dredging machine to clear the accumulations of sand, by 
adopting the principle of exhaustion or suction. The in- 
vention appeared quite new, and the success of the ex- 
periment was very cheering, so much so that the inventor 
was ready enough to insist that he could make it tear up 
the pavement of the streets. We also saw a machine for 
ropemaking, for the binding of cotton bales. The strands 
forming the several parts of the rope were brought to- 



UNITED STATES. 43 

gether, not by elongation in a ropewalk, but by winding 
them upon bobbins, and twisting them together upon tlie 
principle of the bobbin and flyer used in cotton machinery. 

THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 

Our presence as British subjects in Charleston, and 
amidst so large a number of persons in every grade of 
life who were one and all identified with the system of 
slavery, necessarily had the effect of bringing out in dis- 
cussion whatever could be said in defence on either side of 
the question : it is therefore only just and reasonable that 
in relating whatever we heard upon the subject, the case 
of the pro-slavery party should be stated. The substance 
of the arguments amounted to this, — that the universally- 
recognised necessity of sugar and of cotton to supply the 
daily wants of civilised life prevailed in every country. 
That the growth of these articles was utterly impossible 
excepting upon lands which are bordering on the tropics, 
amidst swamps, and in those climates where the white man 
cannot labour, and the black man can ; therefore, if these 
articles are grown at all, the black man must grow them. 
That by nature the blacks were unable of themselves to 
organise any system of labour, and they required the aid 
of the white man to direct their proceedings. That they 
were also unable to accumulate large capital, or to invent 
any operation of mechanism. That it was with difficulty 
they could be taught to construct ; and that nowhere on 
earth could there be found any architectural or other trac- 
ing or record of their previous existence as a race. That 
hence there was a propriety, as well as necessity, 
that they should fall under the care and supervision of the 



44 A TOUR IN THE 

white man, for certain purposes of usefulness in the crea- 
tion. That the holders of slaves had divine as well as 
human authority for holding their fellow -men in a state 
of bondage, inasmuch as in the same book (the book of 
Leviticus) the Hebrews were instructed "to buy the 
children of the stranger, and to hold the inheritance of 
them as a possession for ever:" and this was found side 
by side with the divine injunction to "love their neigh- 
bours as themselves." That the existence of slavery in 
the United States had been of British origin, and had con- 
tinued to be nourished by British shipping as long as 
America would consent to receive the slaves of Africa. 
That the slave owners of the present day were often pain- 
fully reflected upon by those of other classes ; but they 
considered themselves to be clear of any guilt in the mat- 
ter. That slavery in the United States was a state insti- 
tution, of remote origin, and that in many instances the 
present proprietors were the descendants of the slave 
owners of a former period, holding their plantations and 
their slaves, not from any choice of their own, but from 
inheritance. They denied the allegation so often reiter- 
ated, that the condition of slavery was a "traffic inhuman 
souls ;" and, as masters, they disclaimed the holding of 
any property in the "rational, moral, and immortal, 77 but 
in the right of labour only. 

We drew attention to the fact — as we supposed it to be, 
having so often heard it asserted in this country and not con- 
tradicted — that by some recent enactment it was deemed 
a penal offence for any one to teach a negro to read. To 
this remark one of our friends replied, that there was upon 
the statute book a law to that effect, — not a recent enact- 



UNITED STATES. 4)5 

rrient, but an unrepealed statute enacted by the British 
when the country was a colony ; but that in effect this 
law was now no law at all, as its provisions had long since 
ceased to be regarded. That the little "niggers/ 7 as he 
called them, could any day be seen running to and from 
school, carrying their books in straps. He then named 
two or three young ladies, the daughters of a planter, at 
whose house we had recently been as visitors ; and stated 
that he had himself been present on Sundays, when he 
had seen those young ladies teaching the negro children 
to read, and afterwards reading sermons to the older peo- 
ple; adding, emphatically — : 'Do you think that they 
would continue to bestow this attention to their father's 
slaves, if they had any cli;ead that it was an offence for 
which they were liable next day to be imprisoned? 

Finally, the appeal against myself, as a British sub- 
ject, was urged in the following graphic terms: — If the 
raising of cotton and sugar by slave labour does constitute 
a theft, as the English abolitionists have insisted, surely 
the receiving of goods so stolen, whether by purchase or 
otherwise, must constitute a participation in the crime ; 
and in this case the British people themselves were the 
greatest of moralists, and the greatest of sinners ! and 
it might be added, that as consumers of cotton and sugar, 
they must make up their minds either to sin or starve. 

We may have had the worst of it in the discussion, 
yet we do not hesitate to give the substance of the re- 
marks which we heard, as we had not been previously 
aware that the slave owners had any other plea than that 
they had a law, and that by their law they held possession 
of their slaves after the manner of property. There were 



46 A TOUR IN THE 

three if not four distinct phases of slavery came under 
our notice, each of which will he brought under observa- 
tion in the order m which we found them in those parts of 
the country to which they severally belong ; — that of South 
Carolina being the most advanced towards a state of intel- 
ligence and Christian liberty. As before remarked, more 
than fifty years have elapsed since the last importations 
from Africa ; consequently, those now on the plantations 
are natives of the country, trained to habits of industry 
from early childhood, and, in fact, might be called citizens. 
They reside in small communities on the plantations ; 
and, judging by the social aspect which they presented 
amongst themselves, there was always going on amongst 
them a cheerful, animated sort of village gossip, which 
would impress a stranger very favourably of their con- 
tentment, if he could for the moment forget the two words 
"liberty" and "slavery." 

PKOCEEDING SOUTHWARD. 

Our next proceeding was by the steamer Isabel for 
Havana, calling at Key West, in Florida, which is the 
most southerly point of the United States. In approach- 
ing these latitudes, we found ifnecessary to cast off, day 
by day, some portion of the warm clothing we had pro- 
vided for winter. Passing along the coast of Florida, for 
hundreds of miles we never saw either man or beast, nor 
anything like a house or dwelling. The country, as far 
as could be judged of its appearance, resembled the swampy 
cotton lands of Georgia and South Carolina. Key West 
is the largest settlement in Florida, and contains only 
about 2,300 inhabitants, who are mainly engaged in wreck- 



UNITED STATES. 47 

ing ; — seeing that upon this coast there is considerable 
danger to shipping from the prevalence of coral reefs. 
The coral is one of those animals which resemble a plant, 
a snb-marine plant of great hardness, and of a stony 
nature, and forming reefs, or small islands, which often 
lie submerged in the sea, and are very dangerous to mari- 
ners. The wreckers of Key West are, humanly speaking, 
a class of u stormy petrels/' who subsist upon disasters 
to shipping, and rejoice at the presence of a fog or a storm. 
There are laws and regulations to provide against any 
improper advantage in the name of salvage.* 

The state of Florida, having been one of the recent 
annexations, is still inhabited to some extent by the Indian 
tribes, who have sometimes fallen upon those settlers who 
have made unwelcome incursions upon their hunting 
grounds ; therefore, the government of the United States 
have placed at Key West a garrison of soldiers for the 
purpose of destroying or of expelling the Indians ; and at 
the time of our visit, the governor informed us that on the 
previous evening a party of troopers from the garrison had 
returned after an absence of a month in search of Indians 
amongst the swamps and thickets. 

Some idea may be formed of the character and hard- 
ship of the soldiers' mission, from the fact that they had 
during their absence been exposed to the weather, and to 
the uncertainties of finding their necessary supplies of food. 
They had been unable to meet with a single Indian, and 
had not a shoe on their feet, nor a thread of clothing 



* During the fourteen years preceeding 1858, there were 655 vessels 
wrecked or disabled at this point, the value of which, with the cargoes, was 
£5,000,000; the expenses incurred were £500,000. 



48 A TOUR tN THE 

below the knees, and had been upwards of thirty hours 
without tasting food, 

CUBA. 

Having taken our leave of the wintry north, we felt an 
enjoyable emotion in our approach to the land where the 
orange, the palm, and the myrtle abound. It was at sun- 
rise, under the balmy influences of one of those lovely 
mornings such as in this country we have about mid- 
summer, when we entered the beautiful harbour of Havana, 
and placed our little steamer among the crowd of shipping 
and the waving flags of almost every country. Upon the 
sloping sides of a hill, the broad white outlines of the city 
were lying stretched before us ; and it was indeed an en- 
livening scene of novelty and beauty such as we have 
seldom looked upon. The bay is entered by a channel, 
about 500 yards in width, guarded on one side by the 
celebrated Moro Castle, and on the other by a fort called 
the Punta. Upon a rock adjoining the castle is a 
modern built lighthouse of 265 feet in height, with a 
revolving lantern, of French construction, which affords 
light, in favourable weather, as far as thirty miles out at 
sea. 

Cuba is called the " Queen of the Antilles, " and is 
situated within the tropics ; it is 700 miles long, by an 
average of about fifty in breadth, being rather over 30,000 
square miles in extent. It is a Spanish possession, 
governed on the antiquated colonial system of Spain, 
which in these times, m^v be called semi-barbarous ; the 
authority being vested in an officer called the " Captain- 
General," who is accustomed to exercise his power in a 



UNITED STATES. 49 

very despotic manner. The population of the island, 
according to estimate, is 750,000 slaves, 100,000 free co- 
loured, 520,000 whites; total, 1,370,000.* The industry 
of the country is employed in the cultivation of sugar, 
tobacco, and coffee ; by far the largest extent being in 
sugar. The annual revenue derived to Spain is supposed 
to be one million sterling, besides the sums expended for 
the government of the island, and upon the embassies of 
Spain in the adjoining countries of the United States and 
Mexico. 

The city of Havana is of the Moorish style of archi- 
tecture, the houses are of a castellated form and flat roofed, 
the outer walls painted and decorated in lines of very 
gaudy colours, so skilfully blended as to produce by their 
admixture, a mellowing effect, which alleviates the eye, 
by subduing the oppressive character of the glare and 
. heat. The entrance to one of these magnificent houses is 
by an archway leading from the main street. Within the 
centre area of the building is a square or court, open to 
the top, surrounded by stairs and covered galleries for con- 
venience of approach to the various apartments. This 
inclosure is decorated with fountains, vases, flowering 
shrubs, &c. &c. The upper rooms are occupied by the 
family, and on the ground floor are the warehouses, coach- 
house, and stabling. The proprietors are by no means 
exclusive in the selection of building sites, but allow the 
mansion to stand side by side with the hovel, without 
regard to appearance. The window openings are un- 



* Mr. Crawford, the British, minister, states that in 1858, 17,000 slaves 
were imported into Cuba, 30,000 in 1859, and 40 to 50,000 in 1860, besides 
Chinamen. The last sugar crop was estimated at 500,000 tons. 
D 



50 A TOUR IN THE 

glazed, and, by way of protection, are fenced with an open 
lattice-work of iron rods, presenting to the stranger a very 
prison-like look. The inmates appear to have no dread of 
being under observation; the females are for the most 
part unemployed, or engaged only in swinging to and fro 
in rocking chairs, placed in double lines facing each other, 
for convenience of conversation. 

The principal residents are the wealthy planters, — the 
territorial princes of the island, — chiefly of Spanish origin, 
who usually spend their winter months in the enjoyment 
of a round of gaiety in this metropolis of the island. 
They have a very large theatre and other places of amuse- 
ment; the character of the prevailing entertainments is 
gross rather than costly ; and bull-fighting and cock- 
fighting are those which they mostly prefer to indulge 
in on Sundays. The ladies and the elite of the city enjoy 
their grandeur of display in equipages and attendants. * 
They have public promenades, one of which, the " Passeo 
de Isabel/' is of considerable length, and is lined on both 
sides with groves of lofty palms, forming the principal 
promenade, or the " Hyde Park" of the citizens. It is in 
the evening only, after the heat has subsided, that the 
scene is brilliant. The gentlemen are moving about on 
horseback, and the ladies in open vehicles called u Volan- 
tes," in which they usually sit three abreast, the middle 
one foremost ; they are without bonnets, their dresses are 
of gauze of light fancy colours, with skirts flying in the 
breeze : the atmosphere is mild and balmy, free from chill, 
and the setting sun renders the scene most delightfully 
splendid. At a later hour in the evening, the " Plaza de 
Armas" is the focus of fashion. It is a large square in 



UNITED STATES. 51 

front of the mansion of the Captain- General, tastefully 
laid down with flowering shrubs surmounted with royal 
palms, forming a promenade, and very brilliantly illumina- 
ted. The bands give out their music, the ladies appear in 
full dress, the gentlemen crowd about engaging in chit- 
chat ; and altogether, combining to produce a scene of 
hilarity and mirth so Oriental and fairy-like as almost to 
bewilder European eyes to look upon. 

During the middle of the day, in the month of March 
the thermometer in the shade was standing at upwards of 
eighty degrees ; therefore most persons avoided being out 
betwixt the hours of ten and three o'clock. The volante, 
or the vehicle which is so much in use, is formed like an 
old-fashioned English gig, having a moveable head inclin- 
ing backwards. The wheels are about seven feet high ; 
the shafts very long and elastic ; and the length of the 
whole, including the horse, is 24 feet. The volante may 
be drawn by one or two horses. The hair of their tails is 
tied in a fanciful manner, and the point fastened to the 
saddle. The driver, or " caleshero," as he is called, rides 
on one of the horses ; they generally employ a negro, who 
is mounted in tawdry livery, with his legs deeply cased in 
jack-boots ; and the whole affair is mostly bedizened with 
expensive silver ornaments. 

The cathedral is a fine old building of the Moresco- 
Spanish style of architecture. It is one of the leading 
sights of Havana, and is celebrated as the last resting 
place of the bones of Columbus. The first interment of 
the discoverer was in his native country, Spain; thence 
removed to Hayti ; afterwards, upon the expulsion of the 
Spaniards from Hayti, they carried away his remains, and 



52 A TOUR IN THE 

had them deposited where they now repose. In the wall 
approaching the altar there is a small tablet which serves 
to mark the spot ; but, taken as a specimen of a monu- 
ment, the attempt thus to record the memory and the 
greatness of Columbus is dishonouring even to Spain. 
The existence of a cathedral, and about thirty other 
churches in this city, is calculated to lead to the impres- 
sion that the great purpose of religion is flourishing in 
the island : on the contrary, such a conclusion would be 
a great mistake. 

There is only one church in the large city of Matanzas, 
very few in any other part of the country ; and none but 
the Eoman Catholic form of worship is permitted. The 
congregational attendance at the churches was very slen- 
der, excepting only when there was "military mass;" 
the service was not impressive, and those in attendance 
were mostly priests, soldiers, and women. The concerns 
of the state religion are allowed to repose under the pre-? 
siding authority of a bishop. Our interest in the affairs 
of this personage was not a little increased by finding that 
the bishop's house was a roofless ruin. The reason as- 
signed for this dilapidated state of the premises, was the 
reduction of the salary, on the present appointment, from 
100,000 dollars a-year, to 15,000. It came out in expla- 
nation of this serious reduction, that the present holder 
of the bishopric had lent himself, contrary to law, to ac- 
complish the marriage of Christina, the Queen of Spain, 
to Munos, who was a commoner. His reward was this 
bishopric, and his penalty for the offence was this reduc- 
tion of his stipend. We felt curious to ascertain how he 
had sustained this bereavement, — whether it had been with 



UNITED STATES. 53 

characteristic humility, and as affording an example of 
self-denying meekness. We were told that, on the con- 
trary, he Lad not made up his mind to his loss, but that 
he had already recovered nearly the former amount of 
salary enjoyed, and had derived the money from sources 
of gain which had been undiscovered by his predecessors, 
such, for instance, as the sales of permissions for open 
dealing in shops, and for the coaling of steamers, on Sun- 
days ; together with some other moral delinquencies of 
considerable pecuniary value. The roofless condition of 
the residence of the former bishops, affords an instance of 
the rapidity with which the natural fertility of the country 
can obliterate any tracings of the previous existence of 
cultivation and taste. The seeds of large plants had been 
deposited by the wind upon the battlements on the house- 
top; and in a few years these had sent out their roots 
downwards through the walls in every direction, and split 
them asunder. The roof had dropped in, and the pre- 
sence of these bulky trees, now luxuriating on the walls, 
will one day, when shaken by a gale of wind, probably 
bring the whole fabric to the ground. The terraces of the 
flower garden were just visible amongst the growth of 
weeds, and the spontaneous creation of the soil had raised 
the largest bamboo canes we had ever seen. Indeed, it 
might truly be said that this was the place " where once 
a garden smiled," but now " where many a garden flower 
grows wild." 

Havana is the great port and emporium of commerce of 
the island. On both sides of the harbour there are large 
warehouses for the storage of sugar received from the 
plantations, one of which will contain 400,000 boxes. 



54 A TOUR IN THE 

In such, a city there are a considerable number of Euro- 
pean merchants, with whose families we had great plea- 
sure in becoming acquainted. In their evening "recep- 
tions," the doors and windows of their houses were 
opened to their gardens and pleasure grounds, affording to 
the guests an animating entertainment ; the scene itself, 
the moon and the stars arrayed in all the tropical glory, 
and the Southern Cross (a constellation which is never 
seen away from the tropics), rendered the enjoyment alto- 
gether very delightful. Their amusements were varied, 
but the favourite and most successful were the " tableaux 
vivants," admirably performed. The fish market of 
Havana is a remarkable sight. Upon the marble benches 
there is a display of the oddest-looking fish imaginable. 
We saw many hundreds, and were told that sometimes as 
many as 1,200 specimens might be found exhibited for 
sale. They were of every form, and the colours inter- 
mingled with shades, stripes, and spots, exceedingly 
brilliant and interesting to look upon. Some of the fish 
we found delicate as food, but most of them were of a soft, 
inferior kind, and much less solid than the salmon or the 
sole fish, which frequent the colder waters of the north. 

The most valuable of the contributions of nature to 
the inhabitants of Cuba, are the presence of a perpetual 
summer, and a climate quite as productive as it is enchant- 
ing. In the month of March we found our tables regularly 
served with all the varieties of early vegetables, and with 
delicious fruits in great abundance. Of little avail was 
our knowledge of horticulture, in a country where every 
production of nature was so strange to our experience. 
Every bush, and every tree, appeared to have little or no 



UNITED STATES. 55 

resemblance to any thing we had previously seen ; and in 
almost every ditch, flowers were blooming, such as in 
these northern parts require the heat and shelter of the 
conservatory. We could not omit to notice such a sight ; 
and by the politeness of our friends we procured the names 
and description of the most conspicuous and most interest- 
ing of the shrubs and plants of the island. 

The banana rises to the height of 20 feet ; it is met 
with everywhere ; and as a fruit-bearing tree it exceeds 
all others in the amount of food which it produces. Ac- 
cording to an estimate formed by Humboldt, one thousand 
square feet of ground, which will yield only 381bs. of 
wheat, or 4621bs. of potatoes, will yield 4,0001bs. of the 
larger bananas. This fruit, so cheaply and plentifully 
produced, is found at every table in Cuba, as regularly 
as potatoes are seen in this country. It is enjoyed with 
equal delight at the tables of the rich, as well as the poor; 
it may be prepared by boiling, roasting, or frying, and is 
taken along with animal food or with fish ; it is used in- 
stead of pastry ; it is stored as dry fruit ; and a fermented 
liquor is also derived from the juice of it. The plant is 
perennial, — the stalk dying off when the fruit-bearing is 
over. 

The palm tree, in about thirty varieties, abounds 
over the country. The royal and the cocoa nut palms are 
the finest trees, often rising to the height of 60 or 80 feet, 
and sometimes to as high as 100 feet or upwards. The 
stately attitude of these trees affords a constant delight to 
look upon ; indeed they are described by Linnaeus as "the 
princes of the vegetable world, surpassing all others in the 
grandeur and majesty of their port. 77 



56 A TOUR IN THE 

The caoutchouc, or Indiarubber tree, grows to a consi- 
derable height, and possesses an ornamental look. The 
olive is in great variety. The guava plant is much culti- 
vated, and affords a finely -flavoured jelly. The citron, the 
mango tree, which so much resembles our horse chesnut, 
is trained into groves aud shades, which afford shelter 
from the scorching sun. The bamboo, the pittis-frorum of 
18 feet in height, the fronclosa Africana, the araucaria]Bra- 
ziliensis, of 20 feet high, the copaiba tree, the mahogany 
tree, which is very common, the pimento, the night- 
blooming cereus, grown as a covering for arbours, the aloe 
and the cactus, grown as garden fences, the mango fruit, 
the kiameta, the sapota, the cupidoa, an hybiscus with red 
blossoms, very showy, the mammea, sugar apple, the 
gourd or calabash tree, the verbena, six feet high, the log- 
wood tree, the citron, trained to cover arbours, the cedar, 
used for cigar boxes, and the ceiba tree, wmich often rises 
to the height of 50 or 60 feet before throwing off a single 
branch. We frequently noticed that this large tree became 
a prey to the destructive power of an air-plant called the 
u jaquey/' The seed of the jaquey, carried by the wind, 
and lodged in the branches of one of these trees, strikes 
root into the bark, and throws out a delicate network of 
roots, which, as they gradually expand, encircle the tree, 
and descend down the trunk until at length they take root 
in the soil at the bottom. The increase of sustenance thus 
obtained, enables these straggled roots to become incorpo- 
rated one into another, until at length they embrace the 
whole tree, and destroy the trunk. In this manner the 
deadly jaquey has been known to expand its feelers to 
other adjoining trees, incorporating into one mass as many 



UNITED STATES. 57 

as six trees standing near together. It has been remarked 
that ingratitude does not usually apply to the proceedings 
of plants, but in this instance the jacjuey repays with 
destruction and death its first and greatest benefactor. 
Don Francisco Sauvalle, an eminent planter, has succeeded 
in describing and taking drawings of 700 of the trees of 
Cuba, exclusive of shrubs ; and he sees no immediate 
prospect of the termination of his labours. 

The attention of the cultivator is almost wholly ab- 
sorbed by the sugar cane, the coffee, and tobacco plants. 
The cultivation of the sugar cane is by drill husbandry; 
the plant is perennial, the shoots rise to the height of ten 
or twelve feet, and after cutting, another crop ascends 
from the roots year by year for twenty years in succession. 
There is no other plant which possesses the same luxuri- 
ance of character, yielding as it does annually as much as 
4,0001bs. of sugar to the acre. The crop becomes matured 
about the end of October; the period of cutting and har- 
vesting extends over six months, from November to May. 
During this period the labour of the plantation and the 
sugar manufacture is very toilsome indeed. The canes 
are crushed by the sugar mill, formed of three massive 
rollers revolving one upon another. The canes when ex- 
hausted are dried for fuel, the syrup is boiled and placed 
in small conical vessels covered with clay, having an 
opening at the taper end for the escape of molasses. By 
a recent invention, combining an ingenious application of 
mechanism and chemistry, this antiquated process has 
now to some extent been superseded. It not only effects 
a great saving of manual labour, but more completely 
separates the sugar from the molasses ; and again by a 



58 A TOUR IK THE 

subsequent process, converts the molasses into sugar, 
leaving only a worthless residiurn. The utensils consist 
of large cauldrons made of copper, inside of each of which 
a circular agitator is made to revolve at the speed of 1,000 
times per minute. The engineering was mostly from this 
country, and the copper utensils from France. In one of 
the establishments which we visited, the premises and 
plant used for this manufacture, were said to have cost the 
proprietors upwards of <£40,000. 

The coffee plant resembles the myrtle, and looks like 
a hardy evergreen of five or six feet high ; the blossoms 
are white, the berries ripen in September ; and it is not 
until the third or fourth year that it produces fruit to any 
profitable extent. A single tree yields from half-a-pound 
to one pound of berries, and an acre about 6001bs. as an 
average crop, The coffee plant luxuriates in the shade ; 
and the banana is usually planted on the same grounds, 
for the purpose of shelter. The labour required is 
lighter, and the plantations look more ornamental, than 
those of sugar. 

Tobacco, next to sugar, is the most important source 
of wealth to the island. The planting is performed in the 
winter months ; and when we saw the plants, they were 
only just above the ground. The manufacture of the 
Havana cigars is a large trade, and is mostly carried on 
in the cities. Indian corn is extensively raised, and con- 
sumed as fodder for cattle ; and the same land raises two 
crops in a year. The pine apple is a field crop, cultivated 
as turnips are in this country ; and we saw this fragrant 
and delicious fruit regularly brought to market by strings 
of horses, with loaded panniers. 



UNITED STATES. 59 

CUBAN SLAVERY. 

We have purposely reserved the labour question to 
the last. It is an awful subject to approach, involving 
perhaps the blackest history of crime and cruelty ever 
inflicted by one portion of the human race upon another. 
The slaves of Cuba have not been born in the country, as 
those of South Carolina and Georgia have, but have been 
hunted down in Africa, and brought to Cuba for sale. 
They are therefore not familiar with field labour, or the 
use of implements of husbandry ; and it was often very 
painful to see these poor creatures toiling in gangs, hand- 
ling their tools awkwardly, exposed to the severity of a 
driver who was standing over them armed with a whip, a 
sword, and perhaps a revolver. The annual mortality 
amongst the slaves is excessive, and as the planters do 
not import females, nor raise families of negroes upon their 
estates, as in America, the deficiency of labourers is filled 
up by increased importations. The " working out " of the 
slave, as it is familiarly termed, is caused principally by 
the labour of the night. After the slaves have worked 
twelve hours in cane cutting, the labour of four hours in 
the night at the sugar mill is superadded, and these 
additional four hours of exhaustion cause the vigour of the 
negroes to become wasted, and they die off. By the me- 
chanism now adopted in the sugar manufacture, this 
system of night-working may be diminished, if not 
entirely superseded; and we heard discussions of the 
question deliberately entertained, whether the economy 
of manufacture lay on the side of investing capital in 
machinery, or in the exhausting of men. 



60 A TOUR IN THE 

The first sugar plantation we visited was the very 
worst specimen of the Cuban system we ever met with. 
We were conveyed to this plantation by mistake, and 
found the slaves were returning to the homestead with 
bundles of canes on their shoulders ; and as they moved 
along, having their clothes hanging loosely upon their 
backs, they sometimes, inadvertently, disclosed the marks 
of the whip. Many of them betrayed the unsubdued look of 
recent captives from Africa, and as they happened to come 
upon us unawares, some of them appeared startled with 
alarm, or abhorrence, at the unexpected presence of 
white people. 

During the time that we were the guests of some of 
the large planters, we observed that they did not betray 
the same sort of nervousness that the American planters 
appeared to feel regarding the moral aspect of the question 
of slavery ; on the contrary, they seemed to take it for 
granted that the institution of slavery was recognised, 
along with commerce, as a pursuit which was equally 
indispensable in common life, and alike commendable in 
its character. Many of them were gentlemen in their 
demeanour, and were possessed of the estimable qualities 
which are usually found in social life amongst intelligent 
and well-bred persons. Their slaves were well attended 
to, and there was nothing observable of the repulsive 
character we had met with in the first premises we had 
seen on the island. Not a few of the slaves were repre- 
sented as being possessed of money savings, and wore an 
outward show of comfort ; but it must, however, be borne 
in mind, that there doubtless must be many others who 
at times feel deeply the smart of separation from the 



UNITED STATES. 61 

endearments of their childhood, and their native homes. 
Possibly it might be on this account, but, from s$me cause 

or other, it was evidently considered necessary even for 
those who might be supposed to stand veil with their 
slaves, not to allow themselves or their principal servants 
to go about unprovided with weapons. They usually had 
about the premises a number of bloodhounds for the 
recovery of the runaway slaves, and some of the dogs 
were greatly extolled for the sagacity they had manifested 
in the chase, especially in their pursuit across rivers. 
By a provision of the Spanish law, a slave in ay pur- 
chase his freedom, and have the price determined by 
magisterial authority. Many of them do buy their own 
freedom; whilst there were others who possessed as much 
money as would buyout their freedom, who still remained 
on the plantations, after having negotiated for some 
partial exemption from labour. We heard of some of those 
who had become free, who had done well in small trades ; 
whilst others had fallen into dissolute habits. 

CHINESE LABOURERS. 

Since the year 1847, there have been imported into 
Cuba 13.576 men, and 7 women; and the introduction 
of this class of labour is on the increase. Upon their 
arrival they are disposed of to the planters at 300 dollars 
each, for a servitude of eight years, upon wages of four 
dollars per month, besides clothing and food. They are 
said to perform their work very creditably : they do not 
possess the physical strength of the negroes, but they 
excel the negroes in ail employments requiring the 
exercise of skill; Some of the planters treated the China- 



62 A TOUR IN THE 

men as they would treat the negro race, with severity ; 
but they soon found that this would not answer. Others, 
who followed a more judicious and confiding treatment, 
succeeded much better. One gentleman, speaking of the 
capabilities of the Chinamen in comparison with the 
negroes, stated that if he were to give them instructions 
to dig a trench of 100 yards long, two feet wide, and four 
feet deep, they would make it straight and perfect ; whilst 
the negroes, having the same instructions, would make a 
very crooked trench, and would disregard their measures 
altogether. The first importation of the Chinese have now 
served their eight years, and are released; but they have 
preferred to take employment as porters, or in some other 
way, and have not demanded that they should be returned 
to China, as they might have done, but have remained on 
the island as free labourers. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

It is supposed that not one-fourth of the island has 
been brought under cultivation, in consequence of the 
scarcity of labour. Cuba is probably enjoying a larger 
extent of prosperity than any country in the world. We 
were informed that there were hundreds of planters who were 
making a profit of £10,000 a-year each, and that in other 
cases the profits were much larger, some of them exceed- 
ing £100,000. With a measure of prosperity like this, it 
appears vain to expect that the African slave trade can be 
extinguished by our upholding a large expenditure in the 
employment of cruisers on the West Coast of Africa, and 
around the coast of Cuba. A slaving adventure is easily 
got up. Those of every class in ^Havana, ladies as well 



UNITED STATES. 63 

as gentlemen, become subscribers according to their 
means; and they often realise 300 per cent, profit, and 
affect no sort of concealment in regard to their success. 
The British Government have tried, by various means, to 
put down this traffic, and have entered into a treaty with 
Spain for the sum of £400,000 to establish a " mixed 
commission," sitting in Havana, and having the officials 
nominated jointly by Great Britain and Spain, for the 
apprehension and trial of offenders, 

According to a recent report of this commission, 
addressed to Lord Clarendon, " The slave trade continues 
to be carried on not only extensively, but with impunity." 
The country is infested with robbers and brigands ; and, 
not knowing of this, we were sometimes surprised to find 
that our friends would insist upon having us accompanied 
by an armed escort. We had never conceived the idea of 
danger, and merely imagined that this attendance was 
some sort of idle display on the part of these wealthy 
Spaniards. Afterwards we ascertained that on one of the 
roads we had travelled, there had been a robbery during 
the previous week of a lady and gentleman, who had 
been deprived of their money, their luggage, and part of 
their clothing. 

MATANZAS. 

The city which stands next in importance to Havana 
is Matanzas, about seventy miles distant. The interest 
of our visit was not the city alone, but the attractions of 
the renowned scenery of the " Combre " and the 
" Yumuri," which lie adjacent to the city. We were con- 
veyed to the hill of the Combre in the volante of one of our 



64 A TOUR IN THE 

friends, and in passing we saw many picturesque nooks of 
choicest landscape, some of which were adorned with the 
mansions and pleasure grounds of the wealthy citizens. 

On reaching the summit, the city lay on one side, and 
the glittering surface of the bay on the other ; whilst 
apparently below our feet there was the celebrated valley 
of the " Yumuri," having a flattened plateau of oblong 
form, under sugar culture, and so encircled by the hills of 
the " C ombre " as to convey the idea of an earthen basin 
surrounded with fluted grooves. Some considerable por- 
tions of the slopes of these hills are covered with impene- 
trable jungles of lofty trees, with myriads of closely- 
twining plants intermingling with each other, displaying 
a grotesque admixture of foliage and flowers, so closely in- 
terlaced as to be utterly impossible even for a wild beast 
to penetrate. On our way through this valley, the charm 
of the scene was not a little enlivened by the prismatic 
effect of a tropical sunset, and when the evening became 
darkened, by the presence of the fire-fly and the glow- 
worm. Passing through a narrow gorge in the hills, we 
came to a wild romantic chasm, which has been rendered 
memorable by a legendary story. When the Spaniards 
got possession of the island, and had hunted down the 
aboriginal people, the last remnant of the race was mas- 
sacred near this place : hence the name of " Matanzas," 
which means "butchery." The chieftain, indignant at 
the brutality of the Spaniards, ascended this rock and 
plunged into the river below, exclaiming, with his last 
breath, "Yoinaori" (I die). The melancholy interest of 
this event has supplied to the valley and the river names 
which thev will retain for ever. 



UNITED STATES. 65 

GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY. 

It is attributed to the governing authorities, that they 
are corrupt from the head downwards, and that they share 
the spoil with the slavers. The Governor, or Captain- 
General, as he is called, is invested with the power of a 
despot; he appears to exercise it with severity, and with 
a very strong hand. He may expel any one from the 
island; and a meeting of three persons lie may consider 
an unlawful assemby. A gentleman of wealth and sta- 
tion informed us of the manner in which he had been 
made to writhe under the powers of the government, for 
the offence of having, with ninety others, signed a memo- 
rial for the gradual extinction of slavery! 

A few years since, a memorable instance cecum- 
the case of Signer Ramon Pinto, a merchant, a man of 
talent, aged, having a large family, whose residence ad- 
joined the governor's garden, and who became an object 
of political suspicion. His garden was dug up by order 
of the governor, and liis premises were subjected to a 
searching examination, but nothing was found that could 
be deemed criminal, and it was believed by all well- 
informed persons that there never was any credible evi- 
dence raised against him. Notwithstanding this, he was 
apprehended, and publicly garotted — or rather assassina- 
ted — in the name of political justice. 

It would be desponding, indeed, if we could yield to 
the supposition that one of the finest regions of the earth 
was destined to remain for ever the abode of despotism, 
and that the resources of its wealth were to continue to 
be wrung by oppression from the negro race. The day of 
retribution will assuredly come, though its dawn may for 



66 A TOUR IN THE 

the present be obscured in thick darkness. The means by 
which the social and political changes which are necessary 
to be accomplished shall be brought about, are hid from 
our immediate vision ; but it will be admitted that those 
changes which the patriot and the philanthropist would 
desire, ought to come of the progressive intelligence of 
the Cubans themselves. Unhappily, the tropics, although 
fertile in all the productions of the earth, are not largely 
creative oimind ; and the lethargy which climate appears 
to induce, is unfavourable to the development of that 
resistless action amongst the people which would termi- 
nate in the triumph of the sacred cause of liberty. 

In thirty years there have been raised, on Cuban soil, 
at least three men who have left on record indubitable 
evidence that they knew and felt the degraded condition 
of their country and their countrymen : these men also 
possessed the dignity of mind, and the heroism of char- 
acter, which induced them boldly to declare it. They 
were Heredia, Milanes, and Placido. Painful, however, 
has been the record of their history. The result of their 
efforts has been exile or martyrdom. Heredia was a man 
of birth and position, whose patriotism forced him into 
exile. Milanes was of humble life : his inability to 
struggle with the wrongs he saw and felt, at length over- 
powered his reason. The third was Placido, a combmaker, 
a man of scanty education, who no sooner made himself 
conspicious than he fell a victim, and was publicly shot. 
Honour to Cuba, that such men should have lived ! 

Of Heredia, the quality of his character will be appre- 
ciated in the following plaintive extract from one of his 
poems. 



UNITED STATES. 67 

THE EXILE'S HYMN. 

Fair land of Cuba ! on thy shores are seen 

Life's fair extremes of noble and of mean ; — 

The world of sense in matchless beauty dressed, 

And nameless horrors hid within thy breast : 

Ordained of Heaven the fairest flower of earth, 

False to thy gifts, and reckless of thy birth S 

The tyrant's clamour, and the slave's sad cry, 

With the sharp lash in insolent reply, — 

Such are the sounds that echo on thy plains, 

While virtue faints, and vice unblushing reigns. 

Else, and to power a daring heart oppose ! 

Confront with death those worse than death-like woes. 

Unfailing valour chains the flying fate ; 

Who dares to die shall win the conqueror's state ! 

* * * * 

Fearest thou blood ? 0, better in the strife, 
From patriot wounds to pour the gushing life, 
Than let it creep inglorious through the veins, 
Benumbed by sin, and agony, and chains ! 
Thy blood, thy treasure, poured like tropic rain, 
JBy tyrant hands to feed the soil of Spain. 
What hast thou Cuban '-. Life itself resign, — 
The very grave is insecurely thine ! 

* * * * 

Cuba ! thou still shalt rise, as pure— as bright, 
As thy free air,— as full of living light; 
Free as thy waves that foam around thy strands, 
Kissing thy shores, and curling o'er thy sands. 

Placido was charged with conspiracy ; and although 
he affirmed his innocency of the offence, he was declared 
to be guilty, and sentenced to be shot. During his im- 
prisonment, and while preparing for death, he composed 
a beautiful poem, his "Prayer to God," from which the 
following has been extracted: — 

God of love unbounded ! Lord supreme ! 

In overwhelming grief to Thee I fly ; 

Rending this hateful veil of calumny, 
let Thine arm of might my fame redeem ! 

Wipe Thou this foul disgrace from off my brow, 

With which the world hath sought to stamp it now. 



68 A TOUR IN THE 

Merciful God ! how should I Thee deceive ? 

Let Thy eternal wisdom search my soul. 

Bowed down to earth by falsehood's base control ; 
Her stainless wings not now the air may cleave. 

Send forth Thine hosts of truth, and set her free ; 

Stay Thou, Lord, .ihe oppressor's victory ! 
* * * * 

But if this lot Thy love ordains to me — 

To yield to foes most cruel and unjust, 

To die and leave my poor and senseless dust 
The scoff and sport of their weak enmity, — 

Speak Thou, and then Thy purposes fulfil ; 

Lord of my life, work out Thy perfect will ! 

It seems hardly possible to omit one other extract, that 
of his last farewell to his mother :— 

The appointed lot has come upon me, mother, 

The mournful ending of my years of strife ; 
This changing world I leave, and to another, 

In blood and terror, goes my spirit's life. 
But thou, grief-smitten, cease thy mortal weeping, 

And let thy soul her wonted peace regain : 
I fall for right, — and thoughts of thee are sweeping 

Across my lyre, to wake its dying strain — 
A strain of joy and gladness, free, unfailing, 

All-glorious and holy, pure, divine, 
And innocent, unconscious as the wailing 

I uttered at my birth ; and I resign, 
Even now, my life : even now, descending slowly, 
Faith's mantle folds me to my slumbers holy. 

Mother, farewell ! God keep thee, and for ever ! 



UNITED STATES. 69 



THIED LEOTUBE. 



Ik taking our leave of Cuba, we retained a vivid recol- 
lection of the joys and the sorrows which had impressed 
our feelings with extreme interest, not to say solicitude 
for the future of that lovely island. It did indeed appear 
very lamentable, that one of the choicest possessions of 
the earth, rich in all those products of nature which indi- 
cate the most munificent of the gifts . of Providence to 
man, should have been vouchsafed to the enjoyment of a 
people who are unblest with that happiness so generally 
attaching to human existence. It would be utterly vain 
to look for any reform or improvement from within, so long 
as the upper classes crouch beneath the iron rule of Spain, 
and allow themselves to dose in the stupor of outward 
prosperity. The whole fabric of society is sustained by 
the most barbarous form of slavery, and the conducting of 
the system of slavery does not appear to have been 
rendered less harrassing by the ameliorating effects which 
usually attend upon human progress. 

THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

For three or four days our ship was tossed about upon 
those deep waters of the gulf, whence (according to the 
theory of Lieutenant Maury) the ocean currents of the 
tropics proceed to the Atlantic and thence to the Northern 
seas. We enjoyed very beautiful weather, and were 



70 A TOUR IN THE 

amused with the sportive movements of the flying fish, 
and other incidents of the voyage. Having entered one 
of the branches of the Mississippi in a dense fog, our ship 
got upon a sand bank, and remained there twenty-four 
hours. This disappointment induced a current of observa- 
tion by no means uninstructive. 

We were surrounded at the bar of the river by no less 
than seventy or eighty ships, freighted with cotton from 
New Orleans, and mostly bound for Liverpool. This of 
itself was an enlivening mercantile sight : the presence of 
these ships became suggestive of the remarkable fact that 
it was only seventy years before, that not a single bale of 
cotton had ever floated on that river, and that now they 
were coming down by millions of bales in every year. 

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 

The principal region of our cotton supply, is in the 
fertility of the Mississippi valley, which we are now 
approaching. You may, perhaps, find that the details of 
this subject may appear somewhat dry ; and we cannot 
promise that it will afford you any amusement : never- 
theless, it is becoming an affair of interest, which you 
may, one day, study with profit. Let us refer to the map, 
and try to acquaint ourselves with the marvellous extent, 
and the unbounded resources of this valley, more par- 
ticularly with that portion of it — that comparatively small 
speck of the earth's surface, upon which we are so depen- 
dent from year to year for our supply of cotton ; — or, in 
other words, for the material resources of our prosperity. 

The extent of this valley may be measured by a direct 
line from the 29th to the 47th degrees of north latitude, 



UNITED STATES. 71 

extending from the Gulf of Mexico on the south, to the 
borders of the British Canadian provinces on the north ; 
and in its breadth extending from the Alleghany mount- 
ains on the east, to the Bocky mountains on the west ; 
embodying an area which has been estimated at ten times 
the surface of the British Isles. Within the range of this 
valley may be found every diversity of climate, every 
variety of soil, and every useful mineral. The principal 
products are cotton, sugar, tobacco, hemp, flax, silk, 
Indian corn; every species of grain and grasses, with 
cattle and live stock in great abundance. Indeed the 
splendid gifts of nature have been so largely concentrated 
within this region, that, according to De Toqueville, it is 
4 'the most magnificent habitation that God ever designed 
for man." 

The river Mississippi and its innumerable tributaries 
are equally remarkable in their adaptation to every pur- 
pose of utility for such a country. They permeate every 
vicinity of production, transmit the produce raised upon 
the soil, they remove surface waters, and furnish navigable 
highways for the service of the inhabitants. The extent 
of steam navigation on these rivers has been estimated by 
Colonel Long, the topographical engineer, as follows : — 
The Mississippi and branches, 7,097 miles : the Ohio and 
branches, 3,292 miles; the Missouri and branches, 2,655 
miles ; the Eed Kiver and branches, 3,630 miles : total, 
16,764 miles. By other authorities the river navigation 
has been estimated to comprise a line of as much as 
25,000 miles of country, indirect communication with New 
Orleans. When we investigate the history of this large 
territory, our knowledge of it appears of very recent 



72 A TOUR IN THE 

date. How long it may have been since the Gulf of 
Mexico retired from its surface, or for what lengthened 
period it may have been occupied as the hunting ground 
of the Indian tribes, we know not. There is no data to 
which we can refer, and the only tracings of habitation 
left by the Indians are the mounds of earth where they 
buried their dead after battle, and the heaps of oyster 
shells denoting where they have lived. It is however 
evident that the valley must have been in existence many 
thousands of years before it was made to yield any pro- 
ducts to the labour of man. It is but little over two 
centuries since a few Spanish and French priests first 
floated upon this river, and founded some small settlements 
upon its banks. This inroad upon them so provoked 
the Indian tribes, that they made war upon the settlers 
and checked their progress. It has, therefore, only been 
within the last three-quarters of a century that the people 
living east of the Alleghany mountains have seen this 
wondrous land. Following their discovery and possession 
of the country, its solid character as a colony has become 
established upon a durable footing, by the onward tide of 
emigration of the Anglo-Saxon race, numbering at the 
present time, including slaves, a population of nearly 
twelve millions ; and judging from its present appearance 
its progress may become twelve times twelve millions, 
before the fertility and wealth of the country shall have 
been explored and husbanded in their fullest extent. 

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

This river emerges from Lake Itasca, which is situate 
in the most northerly point of the United States. In its 



UNITED STATES. 73 

way towards the Gulf of Mexico, it takes a winding course 
of about 3,600 miles, and its volume as it moves along 
becomes immensely increased by a great many large 
rivers and tributary streams flowing into it, all of which it 
swallows up one after another, without in any degree 
increasing its breadth, but by the deepening of its channel, 
— a peculiarity which is of the greatest importance to the 
navigation in seasons of drought. In February, the floods 
begin to rise, and the river continues high till the month 
of June. 

This increase of height amounts to nearly 60 feet at 
the junction of the Ohio ; lower down, at Natchez, it is 
about 40 feet ; and at New Orleans not more than 10 or 
12 feet. The depth of the middle of the river varies from 
100 to 250 feet, and at the sides it is usually about 40 
feet. In its approach to the sea, the bed of the river 
gradually becomes raised, from its extreme depth, in order 
to effect the discharge of the waters ; and as it becomes 
more shallow, the width is expanded, and forms a number 
of branches, the deepest of which is about 20 feet, or only 
just of navigable depth. The water is loaded with yellow 
mud, and its appearance is very unattractive to the eye, 
though not unpleasant to the taste ; it is regularly served 
at table, and is used for all culinary purposes without 
filtration. This admixture of earthy matter must be very 
considerable, inasmuch as, when out at sea, we had 
observed that the waters of the Gulf were discoloured by 
the river long before we came within sight of the land. 

There is a vastness and grandeur which we could not 
fail to notice in the aspect of this river ; the current is 
rapid, being from three to four and a-half miles an hour ; 



74 A TOUK IN THE 

the surface looks troubled, and is constantly agitated by 
some commotion below, by which the water forms a 
succession of large boils or swells, heaving up to the 
surface, rolling about, rendering the navigation of the 
stream very dangerous ; and in the case of any one falling 
overboard, the body disappears at once, is sucked down, as 
it were, and the recovery of it is next to impossible. 

STEAMERS. 

The steamers are very numerous ; probably there may 
be as many as 2,000 of them on the river ; a few are of 
great magnitude, and their appearance is very unlike any 
other steamers afloat. The sides overhang that portion 
which enters the water as a boat ; and in their construc- 
tion they resemble a block of houses of two or three 
storeys in height. The lower part is used for the storage 
of cotton bales and other merchandise, and the upper deck 
forms the saloon for passengers. The usual speed of 
travelling is from ten to twelve miles an hour against the 
stream. Two of these boats were pointed out as having 
conveyed from 5,200 to 5,600 bales of cotton in each, 
besides their passengers; and another steamer, The Eclipse, 
was described as being of 365 feet in length, and 40 feet 
in breadth. The length of her saloon was 300 feet ; she 
could accommodate 200 passengers besides her crew, and 
carry 6,000 bales of cotton, or 1,800 tons. In all these boats 
the saloon is handsomely furnished. The ladies occupy a 
portion at one end separated from the rest by folding doors ; 
along both sides and throughout the whole length are 
sleeping apartments, each one communicating inside 
with the saloon, and outside with a covered gallery which 



UNITED STATES. 75 

surrounds the boat. The boat is surmounted by an 
ornamented cupola, which serves as a cabin for the pilot, 
and affords him a wide range of observation on the river. 
From this elevation he has command of wires and bells 
which communicate with the engineers and other officers 
who have charge of the moving power and of the steering. 
Along the. banks there are immense piles of firewood laid 
down, in measures which they call " cords," in readi- 
ness for sale ; and as the steamers consume large 
quantities of it, they have frequently to stop for 
"wooding," as it is termed. The steam boilers are placed 
under a publicly- authorised supervision; certificates are 
granted stating what is the amount of steam-pressure 
allowed, and the certificates so obtained are hung up 
within the observation of the passengers. In one of the 
boats we observed that the pressure allowed was 1301bs. 
to the square inch, and by way of preventing any excess, 
they had a steam gauge composed of an amalgam of 
metals, which becomes fused at a point of heat a little 
beyond that of the pressure allowed. Notwithstanding 
these precautions, numerous accidents occur every year 
from boiler explosions, from the vessels getting on fire, 
and frequently from their becoming disabled by collision 
against trunks of trees, or " snags," as they are called, 
which lie imbedded in the river. One peculiarity of this 
navigation, is the large number of rafts which are being 
floated down from the upper country, often from a distance 
of 2,000 miles : they are loaded with farm produce and 
other articles; are of rude construction, — a mere frame- 
work of balks and planks of timber, and are guided down 
the stream by the plying of long oars. Some of these 



76 A TOUR IN THE 

rafts were said to convey freights of the value of £2,000 ; 
and when discharged, they are not taken up the river, but 
are sold for whatever they may fetch as the value of 
timber, and if buyers are not found, the owners allow 
them to float down to the sea as worthless material. 

Of the passengers we can say but little that would be 
acceptable to dwell upon. There were always to be found 
a number of well-to-do people, who were very com- 
panionable ; there were also a considerable number, even 
of those of rough exterior, who possessed a great deal of 
intelligence, and who were extremely desirous, not to say 
determined, to become acquainted with the other pas- 
sengers around them, especially with those who were 
foreigners. But, in reference to another class of travellers, 
they might, without any great stretch of imagination, 
represent those of whom it might be said that they 
" neither fear Gob nor regard man," 

NEW ORLEANS. 

The city of New Orleans is situated upon a circular 
bend of the river. From this circumstance it has acquired 
the name of the " Crescent City." It is the metropolis of 
the south-western states, and derives its importance from 
the commanding position it holds for conducting a large 
amount of inland as well as export trade. It is placed 
very advantageously for communicating with a vast extent 
of country of inexhaustible fertility. The great mass 
of the products raised within the Mississippi territory find 
their way hither, for sale and distribution to all parts of 
the world. The great store-room they have provided for 
merchandise, is the Quay, or "Levee," which adjoins the 



UNITED STATES. 77 

city, and extends about five miles along the river. During 
the business season, which is from November to June, 
there are not unfrequently from 1,000 to 1,500 steam 
boats, flat boats, and foreign ships, constantly arriving, 
departing, or lying moored against this place ; and morn- 
ing by morning this " Levee" was the most bustling 
scene imaginable. It was usually covered with cotton, 
piled up in lots, to the height of fifteen or sixteen bales, 
ranged like streets of houses ; also with corn, sugar, pork, 
provisions, and various other articles, in prodigious 
quantities. Day by day, thousands of carts and drays 
were loading and unloading. Before night, nearly the 
whole of that merchandise seen in the morning would 
have disappeared, and the space would again become 
occupied with a succession of other supplies. In the 
winter months, the merchants and agents from abroad 
arrive here ; and at the same time the planters of the 
interior come down to dispose of their produce. During 
these few months, business is stimulated and conducted 
with unexampled vigour. The magnitude of the sale 
transactions, and the pecuniary value of the bills drawn 
in liquidation, almost exceed belief. The affairs of com- 
merce bring together a large number of active and enter- 
prising people, and afford the opportunity for pleasure- 
taking also. Indeed it is remarked by strangers that the 
season of gaiety in New Orleans is seldom exceeded in 
any other place. 

There is an unfortunate peculiarity, though perhaps 
an unavoidable one, in the site chosen for the city. It is 
lying at the depth of six or eight feet below the surface 
of the river, and the peril to the inhabitants by inundation 



78 A TOUR IN THE 

is provided against by an embankment of earthwork, 
raisQd to form the " Levee." The ground upon which the 
city is built is an alluvial deposit, rendered solid for 
building purposes by a foundation of piles driven into the 
ground. Their only means of drainage is an outlet at 
Lake Pontchartrain, six miles distant ; and as the surface 
is nearly on a level, there is great difficulty in providing 
any adequate means of sewerage. They have not any 
covered sewers, but wide open drains are formed along- 
side the parapets of every street. These are of a capacity 
to receive not only the deposits of filth which accumulate 
in the streets, but the household refuse of the inhabitants. 
Such a mass of fetid matter, covered as it is with stagnant 
water, and exposed to the heat of a burning sun, gives 
out offensive smells, poisoning the atmosphere, and 
creating epidemics and fevers, which carry off the 
inhabitants by thousands. It may be remarked that, in 
striking contrast, almost in mockery of such abominations, 
may be seen the most magnificent display of fragrant 
roses, orange trees, creeping plants, shrubs, and flowers, 
carefully cultivated around the people's dwellings. 
Openings which are made in the ground, immediately 
become filled with water ; and on this account the burials 
in the cemeteries are not in graves dug in the earth, but 
in tombs erected above ground, formed of brickwork, well- 
cemented ; and in some cases two or three niches, or 
u ovens" as they are termed, are placed one above 
another. The insalubrity of the summer months is 
notorious. The foreign merchants quit the place in June, 
and out of a population of 150,000 in winter, it is said 
that not less than 50,000 are absent during the summer. 



UNITED STATES. 79 

In the year 1785, which was before any cotton had been 
shipped, the population had only reached 4,780. 

The city itself appears to have been constructed as a 
makeshift, erected for the convenience of parties meeting 
there to conduct the operations of bargain and sale ; the 
floors of many of the houses are three or four steps above 
the roadway, to prevent the inflowing of the water when 
the rain has rendered the approach more easy for boats 
than for wheel carriages. Society as it is existing there 
is composed of a most heterogeneous mixture of people of 
all races and countries. The native inhabitants are called 
"Creoles;" they assume a dignified exclusion towards 
others, and are said to be remarkably cautious in their 
intercourse with strangers. There are upwards of twenty 
newspaper publications, twelve of which are daily ; and 
several of them are in the French and the German 
languages. Judging of the ordinary aspect of the city, 
and the generality of the people we saw in the streets, it 
became impossible to form any other than a very low 
estimate of the state of common life. They are a strange 
mass of people, and we could not hear of any indication 
that mental or moral improvement was to be attempted, or 
would be rapid if it began. Some years ago, an associa- 
tion of young men tried to establish a library, and they 
succeeded in the organisation of one consisting of 4,000 
to 5,000 volumes, but it lingered only for a time, and 
finally the effects were sold out by the sheriff. Thefts 
were of common occurrence : one of our friends had his 
boots stolen from outside the door of his bedroom ; and 
such is the necessity for watchfulness, that printed notices 
were posted in the bedrooms, advising the guests of the 



80 A TOUR IN THE 

hotels to "bolt the door to prevent loss." Fires were so 
frequent that we thought it not unusual to hear the alarm 
of the fire-bell twice or thrice of a night. Indeed, in 
every part of the United States we were surprised by the 
great number of destructive fires which were constantly 
occurring. The people are extremely careless in this 
respect, and when lighting the gas they would throw the 
burning lighter on the floor, regardless of consequences. 

The drinking saloons were large and numerous, and 
gentlemen, or persons of a superior class, might be 
observed in these places at ail hours of the day, remaining 
there for conversation, and for the enjoyment of the vari- 
ous iced compounds familiarly termed u cock tails, mint 
juleps, sherry coolers," &c. &c, all of them of a stimula- 
ting character. Gaming-houses, and the class of persons 
who are the usual frequenters of them, were spoken of as 
numerous, and as deserving of the usual characteristics of 
reproach. We were surprised to notice in the windows of 
shops, and upon stalls in the streets, the great number 
and variety of deadly weapons exhibiting for sale, such as 
poignarcls, cutlasses, bowie knives, revolvers, &c. We 
remarked upon the strangeness of this sight, and in the 
first instance were told that these were mostly bought by 
the boat people to go up the country ; but afterwards, a 
very different explanation was given of the affair by a 
gentleman who had long been a resident there. His 
answer to our inquiry was far more significant: pointing 
to the large crowd of people then moving about in one of 
the principal streets, he expressed his belief that seven 
out of every ten of the male persons then before us were 
carrying weapons of one kind or another. 



UNITED STATES. 81 

NEGRO SALES 

Every morning we saw*in the newspapers announce- 
ments of recent arrivals of "field hands," as they are 
termed, and the planters were invited to make their selec- 
tions and purchases at the various stores where they were 
kept for sale. We did not visit any of these bazaars, but 
were informed that as many as 200 slaves were to be 
found in many of those of the city, and that upon the visit 
of a purchaser, the negroes would enter into a display of 
their physical appearance, and description of their capa- 
bilities, with as much apparent earnestness to command a 
high price, as though they were about to share the pur- 
chase money of their own value as chattels. We attended 
one auction of negroes in the rotunda of a large hotel. 
They were regularly called upon, and were submitted to 
the bidders for examination in regard to physical 
blemishes. Amongst them were to be seen old and young, 
male and female, and each of them in succession stood 
forward and heard themselves described in relation to their 
capability for the various employments they were fitted to 
pursue, as well as in relation to their individual character. 
We were surprised to observe that they did not appear 
dismayed, but on the contrary, tried to show off to the best 
advantage, and to enjoy a spirited bidding. The spectacle 
was a very humiliating one, but it was evident we were 
the only persons present who thought it was so. The 
auctioneer was very guarded in his expressions, often 
referring to his notes ; and no doubt he felt the importance 
of his guarantee in reference to personal blemishes, as 
well as to the possession of skill, ability, and character ; 



82 A TOUR IN THE 

but in those cases in which his instructions were unlimited, 
his encomiums were so unbounded, that one might have 
felt proud to have heard him speaking of one's own sons. 
The prices ranged variously from 800 to 1,500 dollars, or 
from £160 to £300 sterling. 

A large business is carried on in the pressing of cotton 
bales. The bales are usually brought down the river in a 
loose state, and on their arrival at New Orleans are sub- 
jected to a severe pressure to reduce the bulk, and thus 
diminish the cost of freight in shipping. At one of these 
establishments which we visited, they were pressing as 
many as 1,500 bales per day by three presses, employing 
fourteen negroes to work each press. We also paid a visit 
to a manufactory of oil made from cotton seeds. The 
seeds are laid down at ten dollars per ton. The shell is 
rubbed off by a pair of millstones. The kernel is ground 
into pulp, and is subjected to hydraulic pressure, and the 
oil thus expressed is afterwards clarified, and sold at one 
dollar per gallon. The residuum is formed into cakes which 
are disposed of as food for the fattening of cattle. In a 
climate which is so very warm, it is found that mules 
sustain the heat better than horses, and therefore they are 
preferred, especially for draught purposes. There are 
many thousands of mules employed ; most of them are 
fifteen hands or upwards in height; they move along 
very rapidly, and draw immense loads. They are raised 
in the Northern states, chiefly in Kentucky, are brought 
down in great numbers, and are sold for as much as <£50, 
sometimes even as high as £10 each. 



UNITED STATES. 83 

RIVER TRAVELLING, AND THE COUNTRY OF 
THE MISSISSIPPI. 

When we entered upon boat life on the Mississippi, that 
" Father of Waters," the adventure was one of no common 
interest; nor was it, as we conceived, unmixed with hazard 
from the dangers to which we have referred. Having 
before described the construction of the steamers, we may 
proceed to the incidents of our travel, the appearance of 
the country, and the ever- changing variety of our fellow 
passengers. The first 200 miles was through a fertile 
and well- cultivated portion of the state of Louisiana. 
The country was principally laid down in sugar planta- 
tions, along with rice and tobacco. Here and there we 
passed the villa or mansion of the proprietor, looking 
elegant and clean, surrounded with orange trees, ever- 
greens, &c. ; and not far distant would be the residences of 
the overseers, and the little village of wood cabins for the 
slaves. Embankments or " levees" are formed along the 
sides of the Mississippi ; they are about six feet in height, 
and mostly about one hundred yards distant from the 
river. 

Louisiana is the great sugar-growing state of the 
union. It is situated about 700 miles north of Cuba. Its 
climate is colder, and the crop is more liable to be affected 
by damaging frosts. The sugar cane requires to be 
planted every other year, and when matured for cutting, 
the period for securing the harvest is short — being only 
from forty to sixty days ; whilst in Cuba it extends over 
six months. Hence the sugar planter of Louisiana is 
placed under serious disadvantages as compared with 
Cuba, and would probably not make the attempt to grow 



84 A TOUR IN THE 

sugar, if he had not a protecting duty of thirty per cent. 
in his favour. 

The objects of passing interest were few ; we observed 
that the State - House of Louisiana, at Baton Eouge, was 
an important-looking edifice. The surface of the country 
was flat, and being mostly a densely-wooded forest, there 
was little variety in. the scenery : now and then we 
came to a a wooding station," or to a piece of ground which 
had been cleared as a cotton plantation, or we were stop- 
ping at a local post-office, denoted by a wooden box being 
nailed to the stump of a tree. On reaching Vicksburgh, 
we were amused to find that our boat had been moored 
alongside a floating theatre. The performance was just 
commencing, and we could hear some portions of the en- 
tertainment. It appears that the stage has become one 
of the regular appurtenances of the river, undertaken by 
a company of performers who purchase a cast-off boat, 
have the saloon commodiously seated, and with moveable 
scenery got up in due order for theatrical performances. 
Thus the boat and the company of performers move about 
from place to place upon the river, and its various tribu- 
taries, for the amusement of the inhabitants of all the 
adjoining districts. 

We also found that commercial traders in like manner 
formed themselves into companies, fitted up their floating 
warehouses, and had them moved about upon the river, 
visiting the different localities, for the sale of such articles 
of merchandise as the people of the country might be J 
likely to require. The theatricals and the "merchants 5 
make public announcement beforehand of their approach J 
to any station, and their emissaries advertise in the in- 



UNITED STATES. 85 

terior of the country the various attractions they are 
offering, whether in pleasure -taking, or in the more sub- 
stantial character of farming-tools, clothing, or the 
various requirements of the household. The place of our 
destination, as visitors, was near Lake Washington, about 
500 miles up the river ; and upon our arrival we found 
ourselves welcomed by some of the oldest and most 
eminent of the cotton planters. It was very cheering 
to us, as strangers, to be received by them with such con- 
gratulations upon our visit. They deemed it a very 
noticeable event : as we were the first of the British manu- 
facturing class whom they had ever known to visit the 
cotton grounds of the Mississippi. Before entering upon 
any investigation of the subject of cotton planting, let us 
again contemplate the world-wide importance of this re- 
gion of cotton culture of the United States, hitherto so 
little seen of European eyes. 

No one who is acquainted with the manufactures and 
commerce of our own country, will hesitate to make the 
acknowledgment that the plot of ground we then trod has 
become indispensable in its productions to all the civilised 
world. Upon these plantations, 600,000 negro slaves 
have made the people of all is become tributaries 

to their power, and almost wholly reliant upon their annual 
success in the growth of a cotton crop. Upon this hand- 
ful of coloured people, our manufacturers mainly depend 
for a vegetable product which employs the hands, fills the 
mouths, and clothes the bodies of millions of the human 
race, who might otherwise go half naked, or half fed. If 
we refer to the domain of commerce, the extreme impor- 
tance of cotton and of the cotton manufacture in all its 



86 A TOUR IN THE 

branch.es cannot be overlooked, or scarcely over-estimated. 
Free-trade has unfettered the energies of the people; 
and, from day to day, increasing numbers are becoming 
more and more identified with cotton as an article of com- 
merce. The refinements of wealth, no less than the wants 
of common life, are daily multiplying our necessities for 
this raw material : hence there is not another article, ex- 
cepting that of food, which is of greater interest to all 
classes than the annual supplies of the cotton crop. In 
this country the rate of our manufacturing consumption 
has outstepped its production, and we have become ner- 
vously sensitive upon the raising of any alarm on tne 
state of the weather, the presence of a worm, an insect, 
an early frost, or any sort of accident which may occur 
to the growing crop ; well knowing that a scarcity of cot- 
ton in this country is most intimately connected with star- 
vation, and, perhaps, revolt. Never* before in the history 
of the world has so large and perilous a dependence been 
found to rest upon so small a portion of the human race, 
or upon a people so lightly esteemed as the negroes usu- 
ally are. The responsibility of conducting the affairs of 
these important hands, and all the other operations relat- 
ing to cotton culture, must necessarily rest upon a very 
small number of employers. Indeed, they hold possession 
of a control of incalculable import to the welfare of the 
rest of the world ; and perhaps there could not be found 
another class of men who have higher duties to perform 
than those which are involved in the exercise of this 
authority. Although the planter has the entire mastery over 
his own affairs, he is so circumstanced that from policy, no 
less than from duty, he is daily and hourly called upon to 



UNITED STATES. 87 

exercise the virtues of forbearance, mercy, generosity, and 
justice. Perhaps he may consider it in the light of a 
misfortune that he has to encounter the obloquy which 
attaches to his pursuit as a slaveowner, to receive the re- 
proaches of the philanthropist, and become the butt of the 
political rancour which prevails in the exciting struggle 
betwixt the parties of the North and the South. 

COTTON LANDS AND CULTURE. 

It is a remarkable occurrence, — perhaps an event in the 
ordering of Providence,— that almost simultaneously with 
the mechanical discoveries of Arkwright and others, in 
cotton manufacturing machines, this field of cotton pro- 
duction became disclosed to American enterprise. 

The range of the cotton district may be said to com- 
mence on the Atlantic coast in South Carolina, and to 
extend in a westerly direction to the Mississippi, run- 
ning principally within 33 to 34£ degrees of north 
latitude; afterwards its course becomes bent to the 
south, following the circuit of the Gulf of Mexico, 
and passing through the Texas to the 28th degree. 
This may be considered the acknowledged locality 
of cotton culture, though it is well known that cotton is 
raised both north and south of this narrow range. That 
which is grown north of this line is coarse in quality, the 
plant is feeble, and the climate more exposed to frost ; 
whilst in the country more south, particularly in Louisiana, 
where the sugar cane is extensively grown, the cotton 
plant flourishes, but the crop is liable to frequent and 
serious injury from the attacks of insects. The usual 
fertility of this cotton range is attributed not alone to the 



88 A TOUR IN THE 

soil, which is an alluvial deposit of great depth, but also 
to its proximity to that great basin of sea water in the 
Gulf of Mexico, lying under a tropical sun. The evapora- 
tions which are thus given out, being attracted to the 
mountainous region of the north, become condensed into 
showers which nourish and invigorate the plant. These 
resources of nature, namely, a rich alluvial soil, combined 
with alternate heat and moisture, give vigour to the plant, 
and productiveness to the crop. 

Proximity to the Mississippi gives command of cheap 
water conveyance to carry the cotton bales to market, and 
the planter has thus been afforded the incalculable advan- 
tage of an economy of production, and with great power of 
enlargement, from year to year, of our supplies of this great 
article of necessity. We were informed that the cost of 
conveyance of a bale of cotton from Memphis to New 
Orleans, a distance of nearly 1,000 miles, was sometimes 
as low as one dollar. Hence the rapid rate of extension 
of cotton culture will be creative of little surprise. 
Without commencing our observations so far back as the 
period of its introduction, we will content ourselves by 
tracing the current of its more recent progress. 



)n crop 


of 1820-21, was . 


.. 430,000 bales. 


Do. 


1826-27, 


.. 957,281 „ 


Do. 


1837-38, 


,.1,301,497 „ 


Do. 


1839-40, 


...2,177,835 „ 


Do. 


1850-51, 


,..2,755,257 „ 


Do. 


1852-53, 


... 3,262,882 „ 


Do. 


1853-54, 


... 2,950,027 „ 


Do. 


1854-55, 


... 3,118,339 „ 


Do. 


1855-56, 


... 3,527,845 „ 



Showing that in a period of 36 years the increase of pro- 
duction has been about eightfold. The rate of consump- 



UNITED STATES. 89 

tion latterly has been steadily gaining upon the growth ; 
and this is important, seeing that our consumption of cot- 
ton fabrics still holds out the promise of being largely 
progressive. The increase of cotton culture does not 
depend upon the extent of the soil, but upon the number 
of slaves at the command of the planter. Therefore, in 
forming any estimate of production, reference must be had 
almost exclusively to the numerical increase of the slave 
population. We find, that in 1840 the slave population 
was 2,487,455; and in 1850, 3,204,313 :— showing, in 
round numbers, an increase in ten years of 30 per cent. 
But it must be borne in mind that there has been, in 
addition to natural increase, a gradual transfer of slaves 
from the grain districts of North Carolina, Virginia, Mary- 
land, Kentucky, and Delaware, to the cotton districts 
w T hich border upon the Mexican Gulf. 

PLANTATION LIFE IN THE COTTON FIELDS. 

As before noticed, the introduction of the cotton plant 
took place in the eastern states of South Carolina and 
Georgia. We now find that in the course of sixty years 
these lands have gradually become exhausted of their 
fertility, and many of the planters have left them, and 
gone westward to the Mississippi country, taking with 
them their families, their slaves, and all that they had. 
Upon their arrival in the west, they usually enter upon 
forest lands, burn down the trees, scratch the surface 
with a mule plough, and deposit the seeds. The principal 
portion of the planters have very little money ; they buy 
their land on credit, and obtain advances of cash from 
their factors at New Orleans, at rates of interest which, 



90 A TOUR IN THE 

with attendant expenses, amount to nearly 20 per cent, 
per annum. The planter who thus makes his purchase 
of an estate, never considers it in the light of a permanent 
possession, but looks forward to leave it when it becomes 
run out. On -this account they do not build expensive 
mansions, but erect a plain dwelling-house of wood, having 
it conveniently surrounded by a garden, a stable, a shed, 
and other premises for the picking and ginning of cotton, 
and about fifty or sixty wood cabins for the negroes. 

Eventually, perhaps, in the course of twenty or thirty 
years, they look out for some new settlement, presenting 
the attractions of a virgin soil, with commodious access 
to some navigable river; and having found what they 
desired, they are by no means reluctant to surrender the 
property they have so long held, together with whatever 
friendly associations they may have formed in the coun- 
try. Bigger crops are held to outweigh all other consi- 
derations. This desire for newer and better land, instead 
of improving that which they possess, may require to be 
accounted for. We know that the farmers of this country 
have it in their power to increase the fertility of their land 
by the consumption of hay, turnips, &c, which they raise 
for their cattle. This facility of improvement is not in 
the power of the cotton planter: the cotton which he 
raises on his land does not admit x>f being converted into 
manure, as is the case with hay and turnips ; it is 
carried away for other uses, and therefore an entire 
exhaustion of the soil is the consequence, followed by a 
description of weed winch they call China weed, or nut 
grass. So notoriously destructive of fertlity is this weed, 
that when the planter removes from any place where it 



UNITED STATES. 91 

prevails, lie has the hoofs of his horses, his cattle, and 
even his utensils, very carefully washed, lest they should 
convey the seeds with them. 

The only cotton lands which do admit of being sus- 
tained in permanent cultivation, are those we have before 
referred to, on the sea coasts of Georgia and South Caro- 
lina, where deposits of saline mud are obtainable. They 
do not usually plant the cotton seeds before the 1st of 
April; but in the present year [1857] they were induced 
to commence planting during fine weather about the mid- 
dle of March, and the plant was destroyed by frost. They 
reckon upon the cultivation of twelve acres of cotton land, 
besides some portion of corn land, by one hand ; and in 
extreme cases, in such plentiful years as that of 1855, a 
single hand has been known to gather as much as sixteen 
to eighteen bales, — and in one instance twenty-two bales 
of cotton, in a single season. Taking into account the 
inferior lands of the older cotton states, the average pro- 
duce may be calculated at not more than six bales per 
head; and according to this estimate, for 600,000 slaves, 
the crop would make 3,600,000 bales, or a little over the 
crop of 1855, which was 3,527,845 bales. The production 
is very variable : there are parts of the same plantation, 
yielding in some cases one bale, and in others one and a- 
half to two bales of cotton to the acre. We ^ were shown 
one plantation of 100 acres, which in 1855 produced the 
extraordinary crop of 211 bales of 5001bs. each. 

SLAVERY. 

We now come to another aspect of slavery, one which 
has been more recently established than that of South 



92 A TOUR IN THE 

Carolina. The period is comparatively short since the 
principal part of the Mississippi country has been brought 
under cultivation. On this account the planters, as well 
as the slaves, may be considered as the occupiers of a 
thinly-peopled country, where the local institutions are 
either not completely organised, or of very recent origin. 
The slaves were regarded with the same sort of attention 
as in South Carolina ; the hospitals and other arrange- 
ments for the sick were provided in the same manner; 
and the slaves had their garden plots, their poultry, and 
their pigs, whereby they could realise a little money. It 
was evident that, although materially well cared for, they 
had not as yet become equally advanced in social life. 
We never saw any deadly weapon in the hands of any of 
the American planters, or of their servants : the driver 
would carry a whip, but the whips did not appear very 
frightful to look upon. Often we strolled among the 
negroes, mixing with the groups of their funny-looking 
little children, with black curly hair, as full of mirth and 
playfulness as children under any circumstances usually 
are. 

There were amongst them a considerable number of 
superannuated people, those whom they called "loafers" 
— a term which signifies no longer able to work. These 
old people are employed to feed the poultry, collect their 
eggs, and engage in anything they may find to do in the 
stables, the garden, or other premises of their master, 
One of these whom we saw, and who was upwards of 
seventy years of age, had been brought from Africa about 
fifty years before. His countenance 'brightened when we 
spoke to him of his early home ; but his recollections 



UNITED STATES. 93 

were very faint, and it did not seem desirable to awaken 
those emotions which, in his enfeebled state, might have 
become painful. He was pleased to tell ns of his allow- 
ance of rations, — how much pork, how much bread, and 
other articles he daily received. We inquired if he knew 
in what manner the old people were provided for in his 
own country. The poor fellow, with a loud laugh, and 
knowing look, exclaimed " No pork there, Massa!" 

The negro dwellings were ranged two together, formed 
of boards upon foundations of brick ; and when formed in 
this way would cost £130. The houses of the overseers 
cost about £200. The Mississippi is liable to overflow 
its banks, break down the u levees," and lay the country 
under water : on this account they erect their dwellings 
of brickwork to the height of six feet, and thus elevate 
the floors beyond the reach of disasters by flooding. The 
cost of building is greater than might be supposed, as 
the expense is greatly increased by the scarcity and dear- 
ness of every kind of building labour. Their bricks are 
made of common earth, by working it in a wood box, with 
an agitator turned by a mule. They are burnt with wood 
fires, and cost 17s. per thousand. 

COTTON PLANTERS. 

In this country we have been accustomed to imagine 
that there was something of a commanding position, or 
imposing attitude, in the life of the cotton planter. This 
impression would be a great mistake in relation to those 
enjoyments which are so much appreciated by the people 
of this country, in the charms which belong to domestic 
life and an English home, He may be the proprietor of a 



94 A TOUR IN THE 

large domain, annually yielding large and valuable crops ; 
he may hold supreme authority over a great number of 
hands, to cultivate his land and gather his harvest ; and 
he may have command of one of the finest rivers in the 
world, provided with fleets of steamers to convey his pro- 
duce to the market; — yet no one who is practically 
acquainted with all the responsibilities, would consider 
the life of a planter one to be desired. There is not in 
the nature of such a property that sort of attraction which 
would induce any ordinary person to glory in that which 
he possessed. The climate is unenjoyable, unfavourable 
to health, and so dangerous to the white man, that the 
planter and his family cannot remain in the country be- 
yond the six months of the year, from November to May. 
They mostly live in situations which are isolated; and 
during the first half of this period they are chiefly con- 
fined within doors by incessant rains. Afterwards the 
weather is showery, and highly favourable to the growth 
of cotton plants, followed by intense heat, which ripens 
the pod. 

On the approach of summer, the heat of the climate, 
together with the annoyance of mosquitoes, render it 
necessary for the family of the planter to remove, perhajDS 
to a distance of 2,000 miles, to enjoy the colder and more 
bracing atmosphere of the north. This six months of 
absence is an annually occurring inconvenience and ex- 
pense, as well as a very harrassing undertaking, for the 
promotion of health, and perhaps for the saving of their 
lives. In these six months they are moving about to 
such places of public resort as Saratoga, Niagara, New- 
port, or the White Mountains; [residing amongst the 



UNITED STATES, 95 

mixed company of the various hotels, involving a fearful 
inroad upon their domestic habits, and on that account to 
be regretted. The planter himself must, as a matter of 
course, make up his mind to incur the deprivation of that 
enjoyment which a life of agriculture usually affords to 
those who delight in the pursuit, — more especially during 
that interesting period of the ripening and harvesting of 
his crops. The care of his plantation and slaves nmst for 
the time devolve upon overseers, mostly white men who 
have become acclimated ; and for this purpose the whites 
are more judicious, more generous, and more reliable than 
negro drivers usually are ; consequently, they are prefer- 
red by the slaves themselves. 

One of the largest planters informed us that the great- 
est drawback to his comfort upon leaving his plantations 
in the month of May, was the difficulty he had in procur- 
ing reliable overseers, those whom he could trust, to 
maintain order, and attend to his interest during his ab- 
sence. This gentleman also informed us that he had nei- 
ther locks nor bolts upon the doors or windows of his 
house ; that he did not allow any one to carry arms ; and 
that he had never sold a slave, excepting for misconduct. 
Similar representations we heard from other planters. 

Plantation life presents no sort of attraction to the 
ladies : indeed, from the accounts we heard of the priva- 
tions of some of them, they were very much to be felt for. 
They are often placed at a considerable distance from any 
of the other plantations ; they have no roads deserving the 
name of roads, and in the rainy season they are impassa- 
ble, except for the cotton waggons. Consequently, they 
are much confiued to their homes ; and the wood houses 



96 A TOUR IN THE 

they inhabit become so saturated with moisture, that 
when they approach the toilet they are obliged to wipe 
off the accumulations of water adhering to the dressing 
glasses and the doors of their wardrobes. The domestic 
servants they select from the slaves on their plantations : 
hence they are unskilled in those arts which would enable 
them to minister acceptably to the comforts of w^ell-trained 
people. It was also expressed as an occasion of regret, 
that these negroes are unable to prevent the disagreeable 
sensations which are occasioned to the whites, by the 
moisture which exudes from their skin. Strangers seldom 
visit these remote places. One lady informed us she had 
sometimes been as long as six months at a time, without 
seeing the white face of one of her own sex. 

In these thinly-peopled districts they are unprovided 
with shops ; therefore they make arrangements for their 
provisions for the whole period of their residence in the 
country; and a lady once remarked of this inconvenience, 
that if she happened to require a lemon for cookery, she 
sent for it by steamer to New Orleans, a distance of 500 
miles. She told us she led a very cheerful life, and 
always contrived to keep herself employed. She had her 
apportioned hours for reading and for correspondence, and 
it was quite evident that she did not allow her solitude to 
lapse into idleness, seeing that she was possessed of 
intellectual powers such as are seldom equalled. The 
gentlemen do not find the life of the planter quite so diffi- 
cult to endure. They have always upon their hands the 
affairs of their plantations ; and at the commencement of 
the year they usually spend a month or six weeks at New 
Orleans, in disposing of their cotton, purchasing their 



UNITED STATES. 97 

annual supplies of pickled pork, provisions, and clothing 
required for their negroes, together with the implements 
for their husbandry. When the weather is favourable, 
they sometimes get up a stag hunt in the woods. The 
gentlemen are mounted, form themselves into a line, 
have their fowling-pieces loaded with heavy shot, and in 
this manner succeed in getting as many as five or six 
stags in a day. In the midst of their pursuit they some- 
times spring a rattlesnake ; and upon hearing the rattle 
they all gather to the place, and dispatch him at once. 

The woods and thickets in which the deer are found, 
appear almost interminable : they are largely composed of 
brushwood and wild canes. The trees are of large dimen- 
sions, more particularly the live oak ; and upon the lower 
branches there adheres a description of fibrous weed called 
Tillandsia, or Spanish moss, which descends in clusters, 
forming festoons of five or six feet long, after the manner 
of drapery, — imparting a decorative effect to the magnifi- 
cent appearance of the trees. 

The birds we saw were mostly of beautiful plumage ; 
the generality of them were unlike the birds of this coun- 
try. The rook had the resemblance of the English rook, 
but when he opened his mouth we did not hear the usual 
"caw," but a hoarse disagreeable sound, like the barking 
of a dog. The mocking bird was very amusing: he 
would imitate the song of any other bird ; and on one 
occasion we heard him mewing like a cat. The wild tur- 
key is a splendid bird ; one specimen which we saw 
brought in from the woods weighed 221bs., and his plum- 
age was remarkably glossy and fine. 

G 



98 A TOUR IN THE 

INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER OF A PLANTER. 

Yon may feel curious to know something of the class 
who are engaged in cotton planting. The pursuit is of 
recent origin. By way of illustration, we may adduce the 
name of one of superior order — Colonel Wade Hampton. 
He was descended from the family of one of the first set- 
tlers in the state of South Carolina, who lived there when 
the country was exposed to the marauding incursions of 
the red Indians. In the year 1779, eleven members of 
this family were murdered by these savage tribes. In his 
ancestry his name was closely identified with the patriot- 
ism of his country, and with those who had aided to wrest 
it from the hands of the savages, and who had afterwards 
shared in the overthrow of the British authority, and estab- 
lished the consolidated power of the Eepublic, which all 
Americans now so fondly cherish. 

The father of Colonel Hampton, finding himself liber- 
ated from military service, became a cotton planter ; and 
in 1796 he was the first planter who raised a crop of 600 
acres. Col. Wade Hampton discovered that his father's 
partiality had induced him to bequeath the great ? bulk of 
his property to himself; and he at once destroyed his 
father's will, and accepted his equal share w T ith the other 
members of the family, his stepmother included. It is 
now about thirty years since he perceived it to be his 
interest to remove from South Carolina, to the more fertile 
lands of Lake Washington, in the state of Mississippi. 
The evidence of material success which has followed his 
removal, is afforded on every hand ; and his unceasing 
attention to the comfort and happiness of the negro race, 



UNITED STATES. 99 

is admitted to have been most exemplary. In the even- 
ings, when the log was blazing on the hearth, the com- 
pany of this remarkable man, seated in his easy chair, 
was very enlivening. He was full of reminiscences of the 
olden time, — reminding the young Americans how much 
they owed to the inflexible will and devoted patriotism of 
those who had preceded them. 

SLAVE LABOUE, ECONOMY OF PRODUCTION', AND 
FUTURE SUPPLIES. 

Those persons who have witnessed the constantly 
occurring occasions of excitement arising out of the con- 
flicting statements annually issued regarding the pros- 
pects of the cotton crop, cannot fail to be desirous for 
information relating to our dependence upon the United 
States, in so large an extent, for this raw material of our 
manufacture. We may rest assured that the cotton lands 
of the United States are sufficient to uphold, for centuries 
to come, the supply of as much cotton as almost any in- 
crease of our consumption would require. It has already 
been shown that it is the negro crop (so to speak) which 
determines the extent of the cotton crop ; and that the 
command of negro labour is confined within the narrow 
bounds of the numerical increase of the negro race born 
within the United States. The cotton crop is therefore 
subject to the influence of an economic law which is but 
slightly variable in its operation. The increase of the race 
is estimated at three per cent. In addition to this rate of 
natural increase, the emigration from the north is about 
two per cent,, making together five per cent, of annual 
increase of labour. Therefore, setting aside the variations 

>L.ofC. 



100 A TOUR IN TEE 

of seasons, this five per cent, added to cotton culture, may 
be considered to represent the ratio of annual increase of 
the cotton crops. The cutting off of this migration 
of "hands," would of itself occasion a wide-spread 
inconvenience ; " and a revolt among the slaves would 
seriously interrupt the national prosperity of Great 
Britain. Possibly no one w T ould undertake to say that the 
effects of either of these changes are immediately impend- 
ing ; but no one who has visited the United States will 
be induced to believe that the Northerners intend the 
existence of slavery to be permanent. 

With such an emergency impending, however distant, 
there is a duty devolving upon every British subject to 
consider the capabilities of India and other countries, in 
which we might place confidence for future supplies. The 
West Indian Islands have at one time supplied us largely 
with cotton, and there is no valid reason why they might 
not do so again. "Africa," as Dr. Livingstone informs 
us, " is the very territory for cotton," and we have 
sufficient evidence that the growth of cotton there, could 
be profitably conducted, and the negro population retained 
to labour on the soil of their birth, instead of being carried 
away, as they now are, for sale as animals. With relation 
to India, it may with still greater reason be inquired what 
is it that has hindered our success in cotton culture ? and 
how has it happened that the producing power of India 
has been defeated in competition by the planters of the 
United States? So far as we are informed, it has not 
been by reason of any inferiority of soil or climate, for 
these are considered equal to those of America. Neither 
will it be contended that it is owing to any inferiority of 



UNITED STATES. 101 

labour, for the free labour of the Hindoo is known to be 
both cheaper and better than the slave labour of the 
United States. The disadvantage, so far as hitherto dis- 
covered, consists in nothing more than in the requisite 
economy of carrying the cotton to market. The American 
planter has the boats of the Mississippi ; India has her 
rivers, but not her boats, and in the absence of boat 
accommodation, the Hindoo planter carries his cotton to 
market, at enormous cost, on the backs of bullocks. 

The expense of cultivation in the United States, as 
compared with, that of India, may be considered very dear. 
The interest of borrowed money is high. Slaves are 
costly, and the labour they perform is not large nor skil- 
fully done. Hence the growth of American cotton may 
be put down at three-pence per pound, but it can be con- 
veyed to market at a mere fraction of a penny per pound; 
whilst in India the Hindoo can raise his cotton at one -half 
the money, say at three-half-pence per pound ; but he has 
to incur a charge of two-pence per pound in conveying it 
to the seaboard for sale. It is also no slight increase to 
the other disadvantages of the Hindoo planter, that by 
reason of his extreme poverty, and the money loans which 
he finds it necessary to procure, his cotton, which is 
inferior to American, has sometimes to pass through the 
hands of two or three intermediate dealers, by whom it is 
frequently adulterated with earthy matter. These and 
other hindrances to his prosperity are very overpowering ; 
and thus we see cotton of India brought to Liverpool, 
under disadvantages of quality, to take its chance of sale 
against the better cotton of the United States. 



102 A TOUR IN THE 



fourth: lecture. 

MISSISSIPPI TRAVELLING. 

Upon leaving the cotton plantations, we resumed our 
course northwards, upon the splendid but perilous Missis- 
sippi. It was at midnight on the 17th of April, that we 
embarked in the Southern Belle steamer, for Memphis. 
The distance was 300 miles, and our fares were only ten 
dollars each, or a little over ljd. per mile for travelling, 
our lodging and meals being included. The ship was 
crowded to excess, having 180 passengers. 

The saloon was elegantly furnished, and the commis- 
sariat department was as well conducted as in most of the 
hotels of the country. The scenery on the river being 
flat and woody, soon became monotonous ; — all the 'wind- 
ings and turnings, as we approached them, disclosing 
another succession of broken, sloping banks. Here and 
there, at the distance of some miles from one another, 
there would be an open space which had been cleared 
out of the forest for a cotton plantation, having in a shel- 
tered nook the planter's residence, and the cabins of his 
slaves around him. The principal timber of these forests 
is called the cotton -wood tree ; it is indigenous, rising 
up with great rapidity, even upon the strand which the 
river has but recently deserted ; and when cut down it is 
split up, and sold as faggots at 15d. per cubic yard. 



UNITED STATES. 103 

As soon as the interest we had felt in the scenery 
began to flag, our curiosity became centered upon the 
mixed assemblage of passengers by whom we were sur- 
rounded. It was evident that they belonged to a great 
variety of trading pursuits, and, being accustomed to the 
long range of distances usual in steam boat travelling, 
and often detained together for days or weeks, their in- 
tercourse with one another became free and social. 
Amongst such a ' group there would be those who were 
residing in very distant parts of the Union, perhaps thou- 
sands of miles away from one another. Every one would 
try to take caste as a trader or a planter, or as having before 
him some important pursuit, and not on any account an 
idler or man of leisure. He would be quite free to con- 
verse upon his own individual concerns, and equally in- 
tent upon making out the purposes and pursuits of others. 
There were some few who evidently belonged to the more 
cultivated classes : many others looked like ardent strag- 
gling men, of shrewd intelligence, but mostly ill-bred; 
making an inflated display, and utterly regardless of any 
conventional restraint. They were most under observa- 
tion in the area of a covered gallery which surrounds the 
ship ; and when lounging at ease it was a funny sight to 
see them sitting, or rather lying extended at full length, 
having their bodies resting on one chair and their legs 
upon the back of another in front of them. 

They are not considerate enough to arrange them- 
selves in lines to facilitate the passing of other persons 
along the gallery ; on the contrary, they have the space 
fully crowded by lolling in the most awkward postures. 
Every one smokes tobacco, and most of them use the weed 



104 A TOUR IN THE 

in a more offensive manner, as indicated by the streaks of 
tobacco juice radiating from their lips to the distance of 
four or five feet on the surrounding floor. We were 
amused to observe that whenever a lady entered their 
presence, in moving along, the occupant of his couple 
of chairs would start up as if electrified, and, with 
great show of condescension, would make way for her. 
Not so, however, if a gentleman was desirous to obtain 
the favour ; they would allow him to wind about in the 
best way he could, and not one of the parties would 
draw in a single inch. The assemblage of such a group 
afforded an amusing study. Each one shared the enjoy- 
ment of the smoke, and the posture of indulgent ease, evi- 
dently coupled with the desire to impress upon his as- 
sociates the idea that there was an unmistakable impor- 
tance attaching to his own individual position. This 
description of vanity was sometimes offensively conspicu- 
ous, and it was but too obvious that, despite their efforts 
to conceal it, many of them betrayed an absence of that 
tranquillity which adorns the face of true happiness. The 
same expression of severity has become so universal, 
that the portrait painters convey this feature in the linea- 
ments even of their great worthies. 

It is well known that in the United States, the way- 
ward career of young children is allowed to go unchecked: 
they have not been inured to the constraining effect of 
filial obedience. A case of childish freedom happened 
to present itself, and as it was more amusing than ill- 
natured, we may notice it by way of example. 

An English passenger was accosted with unusual fa- 
miliarity by a smart-looking little fellow of about eight 



UNITED STATES, 105 

years of age. "Well, sir," said the boy, "I take it you 
will be a Britisher?" " Yes," replied the gentleman; 
"and what of that, my boy?" The boy then proceeded 
to inquire — "And I guess you will be a soldier?" "Yes," 
said the gentleman, "you are quite right ; I belong to the 
British army." "I thought so," retorted the lad; "and 
I was just wondering whether you had forgot the licking 
we gied you at New Orleans." The lad's parents were 
present, looking on and listening ; but they did not consi- 
der it necessary to offer any apology : on the contrary, 
they appeared to enjoy the amusement thus created. 

As we proceeded northward, in the month of April, the 
atmospheric changes were exactly the reverse of those we 
had witnessed when approaching the south, in the month 
of February. In the course of a very few weeks we had 
passed from the severe winter of New York, to the sum- 
mer heat of the Island of Cuba. We were now returning 
up the current of the Mississippi, leaving behind us the 
mild and genial region of New Orleans. The course of 
the thermometer was daily descending ; the open foliage 
of the south gradually disappearing ; and at length we 
found ourselves in the leafless forest. 

One of our passengers was a small trader from Califor- 
nia. He had joined a party of adventurers who left the 
United States some years before, and had travelled in a 
couple of waggons the whole distance of 3,000 miles from 
Chicago, and had been four months, or 120 days, in per- 
forming this arduous journey. They had passed the 
Mormon settlement at Salt Lake, and he gave some account 
of the disgusting social tyranny which was being exer- 
cised over the settlers. 



106 A TOUR IN THE 

Eeferring to a period as far back as 1848, California 
was comparatively an unknown country. An accidental 
discovery of gold caused many thousands of adventurers 
to be attracted to " The Digins." In such a community 
there would be found the most reckless of every country, 
living under no sort of restraint or observance of law or 
order. The productions of the soil could not sustain the 
people ; and they w^ere dependent for almost every article 
of necessity upon importations from abroad. There was 
no system of credit ; no one could go upon trust ; their 
supplies were sometimes running short ; food would be at 
famine prices ; and the confusion and distress impossible 
to describe. This man had wdth him a boy of four years 
of age, the child of a red Indian, whom he had bought 
of the mother in exchange for half a barrel of flour and a 
couple of blankets. There was an expression of sharp- 
ness and a wild look about the lad ; he was playful, and 
would often pretend to be hiding himself in some sort of 
fancied concealment. He said he had been induced to 
purchase the lad in the expectation that by taking charge 
of him at so early an age, he could train him to some 
useful purpose ; and he was the more confident he could 
do this, because his brother had succeeded in a similar 
instance. 

In describing the country of California, the man re- 
marked upon the growth of very large trees, and his 
account of them would have appeared incredible, had we 
not in this country the evidence of a specimen which has 
been brought over, and the trunk erected in the Crystal 
Palace. This "mammoth tree''' measures at the base 31 
feet in diameter, is 363 feet in height, and the bark is 18 



UNITED STATES. 107 

inches in thickness. These immense trees are met with 
in considerable numbers, growing in sheltered places 
amongst the mountains, nearly 5,000 feet above the level 
of the sea. Thej have the appearance of a new genus, 
resembling the cedars of Lebanon ; and according to the 
usual estimates formed by botanists, this one must be 
upwards of 3,000 years old. The sight of a grove of such 
trees must impress the mind with an enlarged idea of the 
magnificence of nature ; and more especially with the 
remarkable fact, if such data is correct, that there are 
groves of trees not having yet matured their growth, 
although when striplings they might have been contem- 
poraries with Moses and the prophets. 

MEMPHIS AND TENNESSEE. 

We landed at Memphis, the most considerable city on 
the river betwixt New Orleans and St. Louis. From this 
place we availed ourselves of a railway communication 
recently opened across the country, through the state of 
Tennessee, and proceeded to the city of Nashville. 

Tennessee is a cotton growing state, but that portion 
of it through which we passed, being from 35 to 36 de- 
grees parallel of latitude, is too far north for successful 
cultivation of cotton. We noticed that the cotton plants 
appeared dwarfish ; and many of the plantations were small. 
The returns for 1850 reported that there were in the whole 
of that state as many as 4,000 cotton planters, raising 
variously from as low as three and four bales up to as 
many as 1,000 bales each ; and altogether 194,000 bales. 

We also learnt that in this state there was some extent 
of cotton cultivation done by white labour. This was a 



108 A TOUR IN THE 

surprise to us, and we felt curious to investigate the sub- 
ject, seeing that in our previous observations we had not 
heard of any instance in which the attempt to raise cotton 
by white labour had ever been successfully made. It had 
always been represented to us, that the white race were 
unable to endure the heat of the sun, and the annoyance 
occasioned by mosquitoes and other insects, which the 
negro race disregarded, — the mid-day sun inspiring them 
with mirth and enjoyment. 

An agent who was procuring supplies of free labour 
cotton for the English market, informed us that he mostly 
procured it from small farmers in the northern parts of 
Tennessee, and in some of the other states which in like 
manner were bordering upon the range of cotton culture ; 
that it was grown upon small patches of sheltered ground, 
yielding three or four bales a-year, and that this quantity 
was as much as the generality of farmers had a sufficiency 
of hands to pick. The picking of the pods was under- 
taken by the females of the household : they could not 
stand the employment throughout the day, as the negroes 
did, but commenced picking when the dew of the morn- 
ing had disappeared, covering their heads with sun bon- 
nets : they ceased operations in the middle of the day, and 
resumed them in the evenings till sundown. As these 
were the only parties to supply the free-labour cotton, the 
agent seldom found more than four bales in any one hand, 
and the trouble involved was considerable, whilst the 
quantity obtained was very small. In order to appreciate 
the difficulty of cotton culture by white people in that 
portion of the United States, which may be called the 
cotton region, the following illustration will suffice. It 



o 



UNITED STATES. 109 

has been extracted from the letter of a lady, dated June, 
1858, and was expressive of disappointment that the 
family should have been prevented from leaving the 
country at the usual time in the month of May, by reason 
of the flooding of the Mississippi, and the consequent 
disasters sustained on the plantations. The writer says, 
" This place is nearly submerged from the overflow of the 
river. Xot a bale of cotton will be made this year upon 
either of our plantations. Apart from the numerous 
inconveniences attendant upon the loss of river stations 
and our island position, we are rendered uncomfortable by 
the intense heat, and the swarms of troublesome insects. 
Indeed, an entomologist would find his paradise in this re- 
gion in the dog days ; for the rare specimens of animated 
nature are marvellous to behold. I am obliged to sit 
under a ' bar' all the day, as well as to sleep under one at 
night; and it is truly a ' bar 1 sinister to all free circulation 
of air ; for by a ' bar' you must know that I mean a thick 
close net of lace, used solely in compliment to the creep- 
ing and crawling plagues which infest these swamps, and 
sting us into an almost fever of impatience. Thus you 
see it is high time for us to seek for cooler and dryer 
climes." 

How humiliating is the fact, that so large a portion I 
of the human family, hastening onward as they are in 
the race of civilization, should continue to be dependent 
for clothing upon region a so uncongenial to the white 
population, and to the industry of 700,000 of the negro 
race. 

As we passed along towards the north, it was evident 
that hour hj hour we were leaving the cotton culture, 



110 A TOUR IN THE 

and entering upon the husbandry of grain. The slave 
cabins were passing out of sight, and the country was be- 
coming studded with little wayside villages, having their 
wood-framed houses painted white, and their window 
blinds green. Small merchants' stores would be seen 
amongst the rest, having prominently inscribed upon 
them the significant words u Cash for grain/' Thus out- 
bidding the attractions of the other storekeepers who still 
adhered to the primitive system of barter. 

Nashville is the capital of the state of Tennessee, with 
a population of 20,000. The principal building is the 
State House, or Capitol, recently erected at a cost of 
£200,000. It stands upon an elevated ridge of ground 
overlooking a vast extent of fine bold country. The 
rooms appropriated to the state representatives are very 
becoming, not to say elegant; and the decorations are of an 
emblematic character, such as the statuette of an Indian 
chief, one of the original proprietors of the state, fol- 
lowed by other representations which indicated the 
progress of civilization in the display of their staple 
products, such as wheat, maize, cotton, tobacco, 
hogs, &c. &c. 

STAGE TRAVELLING. 

At the early hour of three o'clock in the morning, we 
embarked in one of those antiquated conveyances called 
a "stage;" drawn by four horses at the rate of about 
four miles an hour, and after toiling all day and till ten 
o'clock at night; we found ourselves at a country inn 
called the " Three Forks," having travelled ninety miles 
in nineteen hours. The back and front seats carried 



UNITED STATES. Ill 

three passengers upon each, and betwixt these a 
swing seat was suspended from the roof, which carried 
three more, making nine inside passengers, besides babies, 
and in a space too cramped for our limbs to move. On 
the outside there were also other passengers and abundance 
of luggage. The country was picturesque, and the sce- 
nery would have been enjoyable had it been summer. 
Y\ T hen we came to ascend the hills, the passengers would 
receive a familiar invitation from the coachman to get out 
and take a walk, — a description of treat which would have 
been all the more welcome, had the snow storms been 
somewhat less severe. There was one very familiar de- 
signation of the American roads, formed of the trunks 
of trees lying crosswise, which we thought conveyed 
a very appropriate meaning, namely, " corduroy." T >Ye 
ascertained that not more than one-fifth of this 
road had ever been metalled, or had received any 
covering of stone. Nearly the whole of our way 
was slightly fenced, or not fenced at ail ; and in the ab- 
sence of bridges, our conveyance was placed on rafts, and 
moved across the rivers. There were other occasions of 
our experience of "stage" travelling, but it will be 
unnecessary again to remark upon the difficulty, or the 
fatigue occasioned to passengers. 

Do not suppose that even the jolting of this machine 
could suppress the native curiosity, or prevent the con- 
versational intercourse of the passengers. On the con- 
trary, an ugly jolt would arouse an apology for the crush- 
ing of your hat, or some other misadventure, and thus 
intrude an intercourse, and assume the character of a for- 
mal introduction, or lead to a travelling acquaintance. 



112 A TOUR IN THE 

In this way, being subjected to the conversation of a 
" stage" for nineteen hours, there would necessarily tran- 
spire something which might deserve to be remembered ; 
perhaps some feature of American character, which might 
serve to amuse. 

One of the passengers was an Illinois farmer, and no 
doubt a good specimen of that class of men. He was not 
rustic, but simple, and his remarks were often shrewd. 
He soon betrayed the usual desire of all American peo- 
ple, to acquaint himself with whatever could be gleaned 
in the way of intelligence, and seeing that we were stran- 
gers in the country, he was evidently impatient to know 
something of us. We had long since discovered that it 
was our best policy to relieve and not to torture the curi- 
osity of our fellow-travellers ; and finding themselves 
treated with confidence, they reciprocate and are equally 
ready to disclose whatever information they possess. 
After relating the narrative of our already extended route, 
and having informed him of our prospects of visiting 
other parts of the United States and Canada, the farmer 
was in great astonishment, and could not understand 
what should induce well-to-do people to leave their com- 
fortable homes in England for the mere sight of the wild 
forests and naked prairies of America. However, he be- 
trayed a warm interest in whatever concerned the u old 
country," as he called it, and his manner altogether was 
more pleasing than intrusive. 

He soon made us acquainted with the history of him- 
self, and with the knowledge of what belonged to his 
pursuits on the prairies of Illinois. It appeared that he 
was " located" in the vicinity of the Illinois Central 



UNITED STATES. 113 

Railway ; that he had got his land under good husbandry, 
growing large crops of wheat, maize, barley, oats, &c. 
&c. ; and that he was annually raising and fattening a 
great many hogs. That by means of the railway he had 
command of three good markets for his produce, namely, 
Chicago, Xew Orleans, and New York ; and thus he 
could easily dispose of everything he could raise. He 
described his land as a level country, free from trees, or 
from any of the stumps of trees ; and he considered that 
it was worth forty dollars per acre. In the absence 
of labourers to reap his harvest, he had made purchase of 
a reaping machine, for 130 dollars, which would reap from 
twelve to twenty acres of grain per day. This machine 
required two horses and an attendant to work it; and 
when he had finished his own reaping, he loaned it out to 
the neighbouring farmers at the rate of half- a- dollar per 
acre. 

He told us that the hogs he raised were pickled and 
barrelled for the negroes on the plantations. The barrel 
of pork weighs 200 pounds, and is sold variously at from 
15 to 23 dollars. The information which he thus commu- 
nicated relating to the prairies, and the extensive land 
sales which were then making to emigrants, assumed an 
unexpected importance from the fact that a young man 
who was a fellow-passenger, and who had been listening 
to the farmer's conversation, was himself personally 
interested as an intended settler. 

This adventurous character was a native of Massa- 
chusetts, and had received his education at the public 
schools and universities of the state. At a recent exami- 
nation through which he had passed, he had been held 
H 



114 A TOUR IN THE 

competent to the profession of the law ; but as his pecu- 
niary resources were scanty, he had turned out in search 
of a speculation — -probably one in land, intending in the 
course of a few years to realise his 8,000 or 10,000 
dollars, and return to Massachusetts, where he could re- 
invest his money, enter upon his profession, and get 
married. In this unreserved manner he at once disclosed 
what he considered to relate to his forecast of the future. 
From advertisements which he had seen, it had been 
passing in his mind that he could buy from the Illinois 
Central Eailway Company a tract of prairie land upon 
credit, at from five to eight dollars per acre, they allowing 
him to hold the land from year to year, upon paying 
interest upon the amount of the purchase money at the 
rate of seven per cent, per annum. That eventually, by 
means of accumulated profits and improvements on his 
farm, he could re-sell, and thus carry out the ulterior 
object he had in view. The opportunity thus afforded of 
conversing with a practical farmer, the young man seized 
with great avidity. His interrogatories were incessant, 
and altogether so unpractical that the farmer's patience 
became tried ; and at length he gave the young man to 
understand, that as an Illinois farmer he would have need 
of other knowledge besides that which he had acquired 
from the study of books. 

In substance, the farmer told him that the prairie was 
a flat country, clear of timber, covered with long coarse 
grass, and would yield good wheat crops in every alternate 
year; but that it would be necessary for intermediate 
crops of other grain to follow wheat, in order to prevent 
the land from getting foul with weeds. The "stage" at 



UNITED STATES. 115 

length arrived at the Three Forks Tavern ; we got re- 
leased from ortr imprisonment, and transferred to the 
luxury of a comfortable fire of wood, a cup of tea, and 
repose for the night. 

MAMMOTH CAVE, 

The cave was eight miles distant, through a hilly 
woodland country of beautiful scenery ; but the road, so 
called, was frightful. The Cave Hotel is large, and during 
the summer months is much crowded. The proprietor 
furnished us with lamps and guides to conduct us through 
these deep recesses of the earth. AYe were again reminded 
that the true American insists upon convincing everybody 
that nature has designed his country upon the most gigan- 
tic scale ; not only in her rivers and her lakes, but in all 
the broad features of creation, not even omitting the 
Mammoth Cave of Kentucky : and, indeed, it would be 
impossible to impress upon the mind of a stranger any 
accurate conception of this marvellous cavern. 

The visitor finds himself overpowered with a sense of 
awe of the grandeur and sublimity of this underground 
formation, which extends over a circuit of fifteen miles, 
and requires several days fully to explore. The chasms 
or openings assume a very varied character, and the guide 
books have classified them as consisting of 226 avenues, 
47 domes, 8 cataracts, and 23 pits. Without entering 
very minutely into particulars, we may content ourselves 
with describing some of the objects we most admired. 

Many of the caverns are enormously large and lofty ; 
and, from the accidental character of their construction, 
they sometimes present appearances which look striking 



116 A TOUR IN THE 

and singular; and some of them are rendered increasingly 
interesting by formations of stalactite, produced after the 
manner of icicles, from droppings falling from the roof, 
containing lime and earthy matter, which become con- 
solidated in the most amusing forms imaginable. The 
combined effect of these chasms, clothed in their varied 
decorations, have awakened the imagination of guides and 
visitors, and given rise to names of objects and places to 
which they were supposed to bear analogy. For instance, 
one cavern is called the "Star Chamber." It resembles 
a magnificent hall, with rocky sides, and an imaginary 
array of arches : the dark surface of the ceiling has sug- 
gested the name, from its being studded over with parti- 
cles of mica, or of some metallic substance, which gives 
out a sparkling effect most inimitably resembling the 
starry firmament. The cavern called the "Church" is 100 
feet in diameter, with a roof 63 feet from the ground, 
composed of one solid mass of rock. In order to com- 
plete the appropriateness of its ecclesiastical character, 
the contrivance of a pulpit and a recess for the organ and 
choristers have been arranged, by the grouping of the 
scattered masses of rock and stalactite which were lying 
within the area of the place. The "Pensico Avenue" is 
also suggestive of the idea of a sacred edifice. The roof 
is lofty, and appears to be supported by a series of lancet 
arches. The architectural look of the place, although 
formed without the aid of human art, was invested with so 
much of the Gothic and cathedral character that, it was 
said, a sense of devotional feeling was sometimes almost 
irresistibly inspired in awe of its appearance. The 
"Grand Gallery" resembles an immense tunnel of many 



UNITED STATES. 117 

miles in length. The " Audubon Avenue" is 50 to 60 
feet wide, about the same in height, and extends to one 
mile in length. The "Cross Booni" has a ceiling of 170 
feet span, sustained without any column or other apparent 
support. The Mammoth Dome is 280 feet over head, and 
when illuminated, presents a very impressive spectacle. 
Indeed, there would appear no end of domes and caves, 
nor any limit of fancied resemblances. We remarked 
that the stalactite of this cave presents fewer interesting 
objects than we have seen in the cave of Adelberg, in 
Austria ; and we felt regret that the cave itself was not 
exhibited with adequate effect. It was not sufficiently 
lighted to disclose its true grandeur, and left an impres- 
sion upon the visitors which was far too sombre. 

In the depths there were pools and streams of water. 
Looking over the sides of a deep precipice, there was a 
dark-looking sheet of water, called the "Dead Sea." A 
stream was called the "Kiver Styx." Another pool of 
considerable dimensions had a boat upon it, which con- 
veyed us through the interior of a frightful-looking recess. 
In these waters there was an extraordinary kind of fish 
called the "White Eyeless ;" and we were assured that 
there was nothing like an eye had ever been discovered 
by the anatomists who had experimented upon them. 
About nine miles within the cave, and at the termination 
of an avenue, there was an awful looking pit called the 
"Maelstrom." 

Thousands have long gazed upon it with feelings of 
dread, but no one had been daring enough to explore it 
until last summer, when a visitor, Mr. Prentice, of Louis- 
ville, allowed himself to be let down by a rope. During 



118 A TOUR m THE 

his descent, he suffered inconvenience from the splashing 
of water, gushing from the cataracts on the sides, and he 
felt some alarm from the falling of loose stones which he 
displaced in passing ; but he arrived at the bottom unin- 
jured, at the depth of 190 feet, and found that the floor 
was about 18 feet in diameter, and covered with black 
silex. 

At the unpropitious hour of ten at night, we resumed 
our seats in the stage for Louisville ; and at two o'clock 
the following day we had completed our 54 miles in the 
course of 16 hours ; the toil of the remaining distance of 36 
miles, was acceptably relieved by railway accommodation. 
It may be remarked, that although the general wants of 
the travelling community may be well served with rail- 
ways and steam boats, it is obvious that the interior of the 
country is ill-provided with that indispensable necessity 
of civilisation — the common highway. 

It may be presumed that when the urgency has been 
sufficiently felt, the requisite highways will be provided; 
but to our surprise, those who understood the country and 
the disposition of the inhabitants, did not appear sanguine 
in their expectations of this result ; at all events for some 
considerable period of time. This absence of public 
spirit may be accounted for by the fact that the whole of 
the country is in the occupation of settlers who do not 
look upon themselves as settled inhabitants. And, accord- 
ing to the information we received, it is the understood 
policy of nearly every one who comes into the country, to 
remain there only so long as may be necessary to accom- 
plish the exhaustion of the soil he has purchased. 
There is no chosen spot of earth presents any abiding 



UNITED STATES. 119 

attraction to the farmers of Kentucky ; and when they 
more, they prefer the new and fertile lands of the west, 
and disregard the cultivation of the lands they have got. 
Hence they are unwilling to incur any expense for public 
benefit, by the construction of reads. Indeed, their utter 
indifference to local attachment appeared not only strange 
but culpable. We were assured that it was by no means 
unusual for a farmer to sell out, and go hundreds of miles 
westward, not only regardless of the friendly associations 
he had acquired in the country he was leaving, but also 
apparently unmindful of the no less than sacred ties 
involved in the remembrance of the tomb he had placed 
in some retired nook in his garden, in which he had seen 
deposited the remains of a deceased wife, and perhaps a 
number of his children. 

The emigrants who are the buyers of land in this state 
are mostly from Germany. The usual terms of payment 
are one -fourth or one -third in cash, and the remainder in 
one to four years, or in some cases the purchases are made 
entirely on credit, and for longer periods of time. They 
are industrious and economic, and almost invariably suc- 
ceed. The agricultural products of this state are very 
large, consisting of maize, wheat, barley, oats, hemp, and 
tobacco ; and it is also celebrated for horses, mules, and 
cattle : Kentucky is also one of those northern states which 
are so largely engaged in raising slaves for the southern 
markets. 

CITY OF LOUISVILLE. 

Louisville, the chief city upon the Ohio river, takes 
date from about the year 1800, when the inhabitants did 



120 A TOUR IN THE 

not exceed 500. At the present time, the population has 
become 60,000 ; and as a specimen of a western city, it 
might reasonably excite one's curiosity to ascertain the 
local policy adopted in establishing its social and civil 
progress. 

The attention given to the education of the young, 
has formed a leading feature in the advancement of the 
people, and we were informed that this city is now expend- 
ing upon schools the sum of ,£10,000 a-year, raised in the 
usual way, by local taxation. The boys leave school 
variously from fourteen to sixteen, and there are some few 
who remain till eighteen years of age ; whilst those who 
intend to follow the learned professions, attend the high 
schools and the universities for a longer period, to com- 
plete their classical and professional studies. The Sunday 
schools are such as we have before described ; nearly 
every place of worship has a school, which is sustained 
by its own members, for the religious teaching of the 
children of their fellow-professors, and, in some instances, 
they receive the children of those who are unconnected with 
any religious profession. In a few of the schools we found 
that reading and writing were taught ; but in the great 
majority the instruction was confined solely to matters 
relating to religion. Upon leaving the public schools, the 
boys find an easy introduction into all the common handi- 
craft trades of the city. Some few take to agriculture, 
and a good many become clerks or salesmen in the stores. 
The wage of a labourer is one dollar a-day, and that of 
an artizan or mechanic as much as ten dollars a week. 

From Louisville we proceeded by steamer to Cincin- 
nati!. The arrangements of the boat were admirable, and 



UNITED STATES. 121 

the fares remarkably low, being only two and a-half 
dollars for 120 miles, or at the rate of one penny per mile 
for travelling, including bed and board by the way. 
Cincinnatti has been designated the Queen of the West. 
It is 850 miles from New York, and is the largest 
capital of the Ohio and Mississippi country, having a 
population of nearly 200,000. It is placed in a rich 
district of agriculture, and derives its importance as the 
great depot for receiving and distributing the merchandise 
of that extensive region. The landing shore of the river 
alongside the city is above three miles in length ; and not 
unfrequently there may be seen from 50 to 100 large river 
steamers loading and unloading. The grain and pork 
trades are enormously large ; they form the chief source 
of the exchangeable wealth of the district, and the returns 
of the value of exports for the year 1856, had exceeded 
fifty millions of dollars, or ten millions sterling, which is 
a large sum for a river port situated so far in the interior 
of the country. The impression of the city itself, is at 
once surprising and gratifying. If there is not magni- 
ficence, there is something bordering upon it in the 
display of public buildings, and around the city there is 
an undulating and picturesque country, with mansions 
and other elegant residences of the wealthy class, which 
greatly adorn the suburbs. 

The chief pursuits of the inhabitants arise out of the j 
collecting and marketing of the natural products of the 
country. To enumerate or even to classify these pursuits 
would be difficult, but the recital of a few of them may 
interest or amuse, from their singularity and extent. The 
leading trade is that of the sale of grain. The distilling 



122 A TOUR IN THE 

of grain into whiskey is important, and there is another 
trade somewhat analagons to it in the manufacture of wine 
from grapes. The cultivation of the vine has been 
introduced by the German settlers, and it has now arrived 
at a state of prosperity. They are trained upon raised 
terraces of earthwork, and impart an agreeable interest to 
the landscape. The " sparkling Catawba" is very much 
enjoyed by the Americans, and maybe termed the "home- 
brewed' ' champagne of the United States. The trade in 
hogs and barrelled pork affords a very graphic illustration 
of one of those vast resources of the country, which are 
at the command of the cultivator. 

The young hogs, raised about the homestead of the 
farmer, are turned loose into the woods to earn their own 
livelihood, and mature their growth upon acorns, or what- 
ever they can gather. They are then coaxed or collected 
together, and brought again to the homestead, to be fat- 
tened upon Indian corn ; and when the rotundity of their 
bodies has been completed, they are disposed of to the 
buyers of Cincinnati! Some idea of the importance of 
this trade may be gathered from the fact, that during the 
season as many as 500,000 hogs are driven into the city, 
and are slaughtered at the rate of 20,000 in a day. The 
pork is pickled, packed in barrels, and shipped away by 
the merchants to New Orleans, to be consumed upon the 
plantations. 

There is a trade of almost incredible extent in the 

r manufacture of household furniture. According to a report 

of the Chamber of Commerce, for the year 1856, there 

were sixty-seven establishments engaged in this branch ; 

and the value of the furniture manufactured was 3,356,000 



UNITED STATES. 123 

dollars, or £671,200 sterling. There are nine of these 
concerns which are upon a more extensive scale than the 
rest, each of them employing from 200 to 350 hands. We 
visited several of these manufactories, and were surprised 
to observe the systematic character of their varied opera- 
tions. One proprietor was making chairs at the rate of 
4,000 to 5,000 per week, and at prices varying from 
Is. 8d. to 13s. 4d. each. Another was making bedsteads 
at the rate of 1,000 per week, and at prices as low as 6s. 
or as high as £12 each. The component parts of these 
articles were of turned work, made to one uniform gauge 
to screw into one another, and in all respects so handy 
to deal with, that when warehoused the stock might be 
disposed of in large quantities, carried to remote places ; 
and so accurately joined as to fit into each other without 
constraint, 

The commercial report proceeds to remark the growing 
importance of this trade in supplying the demands of 
hotels, steamboats, and families of emigrants who are con- 
stantly proceeding towards the states of the west. The 
value to the city of this branch of business, may be com • 
puted from the fact that the raw material is a home 
product ; that its value is immensely increased by labour, 
the timber or raw material being described as lumber, 
and worth only from 1 J to 3 dollars per 100 cubic feet. 

Coach making was also an extensive business ; and 
we saw an assortment of elegant and expensive vehicles, 
and hundreds of useful and well-contrived conveyances of 
every imaginable shape to comprise utility and comfort in 
travelling through such a country. One proprietor stated 
that his annual returns were from £30,000 to £40,000, a 



124 A TOUR IN THE 

sum which probably exceeds that of the great bulk of 
coachmakers, even in London. 

We have remarked upon the carelessness of servants, 
and the frequency of destructive fires in all the cities of 
the United States. The fire engine department is one in 
which a considerable amount of interest is felt ; and in 
Cincinnatti they had an extinguishing apparatus, with 
a locomotive steam engine attached to it for working the 
pumps, and so easy of application that it could be fitted 
up and set to work in eight minutes. 

SLAVERY. 

In this state, the State of Ohio, we have passed the 
northern boundaries of the slave states of Kentucky, Vir- 
ginia, and Maryland. The states are situated betwixt 37 
and 40 degrees north latitude, consequently too far north 
for the cultivation of cotton. They are very fertile, and 
possess a climate w^hich is salubrious, and well adapted to 
the personal comfort of the white man. They are never- 
theless slave states, and it is probable that in the infancy 
of their growth and settlement, recourse has been had to 
slave labour, in order to bring out cultivation with the 
utmost rapidity. 

It is universally admitted that for the mere purposes 
of husbandry the negro race is not needed ; and the con- 
tinued existence of slavery in these states is accounted 
for, not by reason of the cheapness of slave labour, for 
slave labour is not cheap labour, but by the advantage to 
be derived from sale of the offspring of slaves to the 
planters of the south. This practice is very justly held 
in abhorrence, especially by the citizens of those states 



UNITED STATES. 125 

which have liberated their own slaves. On this account 
it did not occasion any surprise to us that a feeling of 
restless impatience and remonstrance was very prevalent 
in Cincinnatti. This was not carried to the extent of a 
"border feud;" the chagrin expends itself in another 
wav, by the game of intrigue with the slaves, leading to 
their clandestine escape and conveyance to Canada. 

It was not long before we became introduced to a cha- 
racter in this way, a member of the Society of Friends, 
one who might very allowably be identified as the u Simeon 
Halliday" or the "Phineas Fletcher,' ' who figure amongst 
the heroes of Mrs. Stowe. This man had become widely 
known for his indomitable energy in the cause of negro 
freedom, as well as for his skill in effecting his object ; so 
much so as to have acquired the soubriquet of " The 
President of the Underground Kailway." He had fre- 
quently got into trouble for his unlawful proceedings in 
this way ; and his expertness in extricating himself from 
a difficulty was rather amusing. He had been appre- 
hended and brought into court upon charge of having 
aided in the escape of some negro slaves. The case 
against him was strong, but not positive ; and one of the 
magistrates attempted to gain an admission by assuming 
a peremptory demeanour towards him. He at once made 
the admission that the negroes themselves had told him 
that they were slaves, but that no other person had told 
him so ; and, in his own quaint and characteristic manner, 
proceeded to remind this indiscreet justice of the peace 
that according to law the evidence of the negro race was 
not received even upon oath ; therefore, having no authority 
but theirs, he had not felt called upon to give credit to 



126 A TOUR IN THE 

what they had said, and had felt no indisposition to com- 
ply with what they had wanted him to do. Having 
made this statement, he thought it would be quite as con- 
venient, and quite as consistent with the province of the 
court, if they would allow the case to be proved from the 
other side, and not by seeking admissions from him. 
This they failed to do, and the charge was dropped. 



UNITED STATES. 127 



EIETH LECTURE. 



From Cinciimatti to Chicago the distance by railway 
is about 300 miles, passing through the states of Ohio and 
Indiana. In the western part of Indiana we entered upon 
a prairie country, very thinly inhabited ; but we could 
perceive that since the opening of the railway there had 
been erected many little dwellings and homesteads of set- 
tlers, surrounded by small plots of newly-enclosed land ; 
and an abundance of unoccupied ground was lying in 
readiness to receive a succession of emigrant settlers 
whenever they might arrive. 

CHICAGO. 

Any attempt to describe this wonderful growth of a 
city, would be incomplete if it did not also comprise some 
account of the unpropitious character of its origin, and its 
subsequent progress, in little over twenty years, from a 
village of wooden shanties, to a splendid city of 110,000 
inhabitants. It is situated upon a river on the south- 
western shore of Lake Michigan, having in its foreground 
a level plain of many hundreds of miles, stretching along 
the prairies of Illinois, and upon a well-selected site, as 
the great trading metropolis of the west. A variety of 
concurrent circumstances have favoured the creation of 
such a city, mainly arising out of these immeasureable 



128 A TOUR IN THE 

prairie lands, brimful of fertility, and commercially tributary 
to Chicago as the outlet. The requisite facilities for trade 
have been afforded by the confluence of the river and the 
lake ; but to these have since been added canal navigation 
and railways, to meet the urgent requirings of commerce. 
A largely-increased demand for grain, especially for the 
supply of the English market, has doubtless contributed 
an untold amount of prosperity to Chicago, and to the 
whole of that country. When we compare the growth of 
this modern city with that of the cities of the old world, 
what shall be the measure of our astonishment? The 
cities of ancient date have required centuries to establish 
them, and centuries following of enlargement, before they 
attained the proportions or the eminence of this, which is 
scarcely a quarter of a century old. Eeferring also to 
modern times, the progress of European cities is slow; 
and favoured as our own country has been for the advance- 
ment of mercantile ports, the progress of Fleetwood or 
Grimsby is utterly insignificant in comparison with Chi- 
cago. The history of this place no one has taken the 
trouble to write ; therefore any historical account which 
we present, must be received as scattered reminiscences 
collected from loose accounts and traffic returns. 

Beginning with the year 1804, the government of the 
United States erected a fort for the occupation of this 
locality against the Eed Indians. For nearly twenty 
years following, the only white man besides the military 
who made any approach to this settlement, was Mr. John 
Kinzie, who availed himself of the fort as a trading point 
for the purchase of furs and skins from the surrounding 
tribes of Indians. 



UNITED STATES. 129 

Up to a period as recent as the year 1812, the whole of 
the Illinois country lying beyond the state of Ohio was 
entirely in possession of the Indians. At length five 
dwellings were erected outside the fort ; and the Indians 
became so indignant at this encroachment, that they fell 
upon the place with great fury, destroyed the fort, massa- 
cred the soldiers and other inhabitants, sparing only their 
trading friend, John Kinzie, and his family. Although 
the fort was re-established, the extension of the settle- 
ment was held in check by the dread of the Indians ; and 
up to the year 1831 there were only twelve families, be- 
sides the soldiers, who had ventured to occupy the place. 
An impression of increased security began to prevail, and 
a walking post was established. A half-breed Indian was 
despatched once -a- week to Mies, in Michigan, where he 
collected either verbal accounts of news, or newspapers, 
whether new or old ; and his return at the week's end was 
an event of no common interest to the inhabitants. 

The following year, 1832, the Indians again assembled 

in great numbers, committing great outrage and murder ; 

and at length it was found necessary to bring about by 

treaty a right of occupation, whereby the Indians agreed 

to relinquish all their territorial claims as far westward as 

Iowa, and engaged that themselves, and all that they had, 

should be removed out of the country to the western side 

of the river Mississippi. During the next year, 1833, no 

less than 7,000 Indians presented themselves in Chicago ; 

and forty- six teams of oxen were engaged in conveying 

the last remnant of them upon a journey of forty days, to 

that land of promise which had been bargained for and 

allotted to them. 
I 



130 A TOUR IN THE 

During the following year, 1834, there was a consider- 
able increase of vitality in Chicago. A grant of £5,000 
was allowed by Congress for the erection of a harbour for 
shipping; and a one-horse mail was substituted for the 
walking post. But the peaceful occupation of the city 
was again to be disturbed. The Eed Indians they had 
bargained off and conveyed away ; but the -denizens of 
the forest they had not yet dealt with, and the marauding 
habits of the bear and the wolf they could no longer en- 
dure. The forests immediately adjoining the city were 
the resort of large numbers of these ravenous beasts ; and 
from stealthy visits in the night they advanced to a de- 
scription of freedom which could no longer be tolerated. 
The inhabitants, as lords of the creation, were determined 
to assert their own dignity ; they formed themselves into 
hunting parties, and succeeded in destroying no less than 
forty of these savage animals. This may seem a singular 
event in the annals of a city; but in passing betwixt 
Jackson and Market- street, we were amused to hear that 
this had been the site of the last struggle with one of the 
large bears. 

The birth of Miss Ellen Hamilton took place in the 
year 1832, and this young lady, now 24 years of age, is 
the oldest native inhabitant. The public census was first 
taken in the year 1835, the population was 3,265; in 1840, 
4,470; 1845,12,888; 1850,28,269; 1855,83,509; 1856, 
110,000. 

During the season of 1856, the number of vessels and 
steamers arriving at the port, had been 7,328 ; the tonnage 
was 1,545,379 tons ; and the number of men employed in 
their navigation, was 65,532. Up to the year 1836, 



UNITED STATES. 131 

the provisions required for domestic consumption were 
imported ; three years afterwards they had a surplus ; and 
in the course of eleven years their annual exports had he- 
come increased in value from eleven thousand to eleven 
millions of dollars. 

The grain ~r;de is by far i branch of com- 

merce ; and although this is only the eighteenth year since 
its commencement. Chicago has become the largest pri- 
mary grain port in the world, having in the last year (1856) 
exported 8,337,420 bushels of wheat ; 1 1,129,668 bushels 
of Indian corn ; 1,034,188 bushels of oats, rye, and barley; 
being a total of 21, 583,221 bushels of grain exported. 

The hog trade is rapidly advancing, and the returns 
for the year of live and dressed hogs amounted to 308,539. 
An imme 

"lumber:" the returns for I 

boards, 79,2 Of; 

wool, 1,853, : lit. 

RAILWAYS. 

Half-a-dozen years ago, Chicago had only a single 
railroad of twenty miles long entering the city. Now 
(1856) there are thirteen railroads centre here, and 100 
trains of passenger cars arriving and departing daily. 
The fifth annual report (1856) of the trades of the city, 
enumerates thirty descriptions of trades and manufactures 
giving employment to 10,000 hands ; the most important 
being those connected with agricultural implements. We 
visited the extensive works of Mr. McCormick, whose 
principal business is the manufacture of reaping and mow- 
ing machines. He informed us that the demand is so 



lo2 A TOUR IN THE 

extensive, that lie had himself sent out 1,500 of these 
machines last year, and expected to sell 3,000 this year. 

We have already indicated in what manner Chicago 
has been raised ; and let us not overlook the continued 
and bustling operations of its thriving progress. The 
wood buildings in the central parts of the city are disap- 
pearing, to make way for the erection of houses, shops, 
and warehouses, chiefly of marble. The magnitude and 
architectural appearance of many of these, would vie with 
the stately modern erections of Manchester. The wooden 
houses of the original city were being carried away to be 
replaced in the suburbs ; and occasionally we had the 
singular pleasure of meeting a dwelling-house travelling 
along the streets. It might be inhabited or uninhabited, 
but it was evidently being hurried away, and perhaps into 
some adjoining and less populous parish. We were . much 
amused to observe the advantage which was being taken 
by the people, to convert a locomotive dwelling into an 
advertising van, and have it plastered over with all sorts 
of placards. Churches and schools were provided in 
great numbers. The streets were neglected ; indeed they 
appeared not to have been formed, except by a covering 
of planks, which had now become loose, uneven, and dan- 
gerous. It was said that large fortunes had been made, 
and with great rapidity ; but this remark was accompanied 
with animadversions upon the slippery mercantile prac- 
tices of the place. 

PRAIRIE COUNTRY. 

The prairies, so long neglected, have in recent times 
disclosed an unexpected amount of fertility. The early 



UNITED STATES. 133 

settlers in the United States adhered to an impression that 
the growth of large trees was an acknowledged test of 
good land ; and spent perhaps half their lives in hewing 
down big trees, iii order to clear the ground and prepare 
it for grain crops. The supposed infertility of the prairies 
has been a mistake, and their extent is almost incalcula- 
ble. The surface is quite level, covered with long coarse 
grass, and without either tree or shrub. The railway 
proprietors, in advertising the land sales, assert that the 
crop of a single year has amounted to the first cost of the 
land. At all events, the natural resources of the prairies 
of Illinois are so enormous, that they contribute to render 
that state one of the most important in the Union. The 
absence of timber as well as stone is inconvenient to the 
settlers, on account of the absolute necessity for field fen- 
ces, farm buildings, and dwelling-houses. This necessity 
will serve in some extent to explain the amazing amount 
of trade in " lumber" which is being carried on betwixt 
Chicago and the Northern Lakes. These lakes are nume- 
rous ; and in describing their magnitude, we were assured 
that one of them would be large enough to receive e 
territorial extent of Old England, and leave plenty of 
room to sail round her as an island. The navigation of 
these lakes affords easy access to those immense forests 
which supply the vast shipments of lumber so much requi- 
red in Illinois. 

The people of Chicago are ever ready to accommodate 
the wants of the emigrant, and to enable him to determine 
upon the desirability of some plot of land, to complete his 
purchase, and to proceed with the requisite arrangements 
for immediate occupation. A contractor in the lumber 



134 A TOUR IN THE 

trade will propose to supply him with farm premises. 
They have always on hand either ready-made houses or 
drawings of them, and any number of doors and windows 
ready for use. In this manner wood-framed houses may 
be supplied to any approved pattern, at any price from £40 
to £200 each, with the requisite outbuildings ; and the 
same may be erected for permanent occupation in less 
than one month. The articles of furniture which have 
been supplied from Gincinnatti, will present their various 
attractions ; and in a very few weeks the emigrant may 
become a landed proprietor and a citizen, having his fa- 
mily located, his team of bullocks at the plough ; and in 
less than a year his grain crops may have been raised, 
and shipped away from Chicago. In illustration of the 
growth of industry upon the prairies, we may refer to a 
letter addressed to the "Illustrated London News," from 
Fairbury, Illinois, and headed 

"Growth of a Village in the Far West. — Last November, 
there was but one bouse bere ; now there are 40 dwellings, 7 stores, 3 
warehouses, a church, a school-house, a railway depot, a steam mill, 
and other buildings, all erected within eleven months." 

Another instance of progress is related by a correspon- 
dent of the u Chicago Tribune," who says — 

"Being in Eock County, Illinois, one day last week (about the 
middle of August), I went to the top of a hill called Mount Zion, six 
miles from Janesville, and counted on the surrounding plain 150 four- 
horse power reaping machines, busily cutting down wheat. There 
were 1,000 men, women, and boys following, binding and shocking up 
the golden sheaves. It was a sight worth seeing, to behold the grain 
falling and being gathered up at the rate of 200 acres an hour." 

Mr. Caird, M.P., in his "Notes on the Prairies/ 7 states 
that " England and Illinois are nearly equal in size ; that 



UNITED STATES. 135 

Illinois is an undulating open plain ; that some of the corn 
fields are of uncommon magnitude ; one vast sweep which 
he saw of 2,200 acres was all in new-sown wheat : and 
that most of the towns are not four years old, and are 
growing rapidly." We heard it computed there would 
be at least 50,000 square miles of territory now lying 
within command of Chicago as an outlet ; that at present 
only one -sixth of it was under cultivation ; and that a still 
greater extent of unexplored wilderness was lying more 
remotely westward-, 

Leaving Chicago, we came eastward 350 miles to the 
city of Cleveland, upon the southern bank of Lake Erie, 
The lake presented a ruffled surface, and large waves were 
dashing against the headlands of an abrupt coast. The 
town residences reminded us of our pleasure -taking marine 
resorts in the South of England. The severity of the 
weather deterred us from proceeding in the direction of 
Niagara and Canada ; and therefore we preferred to make 
a tour of a few weeks towards the more genial south. 

Pittsburg is usually denominated the Birmingham of 
the United States ; but such a comparison is an exaggera- 
tion pardonable only in America. It is a smoky, dirty- 
looking city, of 110,000 inhabitants, situated upon the 
Ohio river, amongst the hills. The mines of iron and j 
coal which abound in the vicinity, have given rise to a \ 
considerable extent of enterprise and commerce. Parts of I 

adjacent suburbs have been named Birmingham and 
Manchester; and in these places the iron and glass works 
are mostly situated. The coal formation is immediately 
above the river. The mines are wrought by means of 
tunnels, and the coal conveyed by tramway to the barges, 



136 A TOUR IN THE 

and floated down the Ohio to all the cities upon its banks, 
and throughout all the branches of the Mississippi as far 
as navigable. According to the published returns of the 
previous week, the deliveries of coals had been 500,000 
bushels, or 16,000 tons ; the selling price was 5s. per ton. 
The engineering works which we had heard described in 
such exaggerated terms, were disappointing to us. We 
did not find the outward appearance of any large capital 
embarked, such as we see in our engineering towns in 
England. The pretensions of Pittsburg as a marvellous 
embodiment of skill in mechanical pursuits, had been 
reported to us in the "free and easy" style which so often 
prevails. A traveller, at the hotel in Cleveland, who was 
desirous to fix our attention upon a manufactory at Pitts- 
burg, described it as comprising every element of skill in 
metals ; and assured us, very impressively, that we should 
in this concern find the manufacture of everything in me- 
tal, "from the spittoon lying at our feet, to the movements 
of the watch in our pocket/' Having hastened our visit 
to these notable works, we found that the place ought 
more properly to have been described as the workshop of 
a locksmith. They were making locks at the rate of 
5,000 a-week, and at prices varying from 6d. to 12s. each. 
The manufacture of wine decanters, and moulded and 
figured work in glass, appeared to be well managed ; but 
the manufacture of window glass did not look promising, 
and the attempt to make plate glass had not succeeded. 

EMIGRANTS FROM LANCASHIRE. 

We descended the Ohio by steamer to Wheeling, and 
from thence we visited a number of emigrant farmers, who 



UNITED STATES. 137 

had left Lancashire about thirty years ago. They had 
cleared away the trees, the stumps still remaining in the 
ground ; their land was well fenced, and under culture 
like an old settlement ; but it was wearing out, and they 
spoke of going westward. 

The village of St. Clair sville through which we had 
to pass, contains about 500 inhabitants, and the locality 
appeared to sustain two publications of newspapers. In 
all the little affairs of these people, there were evidences of 
comfort and thrift. Their clothing and furniture appeared 
homely. Their animal food was not fresh killed, but such 
as they had salted or pickled. Their Indian corn served 
them in a variety of ways, and they seemed to consider it 
a most valuable article of food. Their sugar and molasses 
were of their own manufacture, from the saccharine! juice 
of the sugar maple. One of the farmers stated that his 
land would yield as much as 22 bushels of wheat, or 50 
bushels of Indian corn to the acre ; but another one esti- 
mated the average at 10 or 12 bushels of wheat, and re- 
marked that they did not suffer so much from poor markets 
as from having very little grain to sell. Manuring for 
wheat crops is done every five years : and the current 
price of land is £8 per acre. We did not hear that any of 
the settlers had realised more than .£1,000; and it was 
supposed that there w T as not any individual in the county 
possessed of more than £10,000. From these accounts it 
is evident that when they spoke so boastingly of raising a 
wheat crop from the same land for five years in succession, 
the whole quantity so raised in the five years would 
not be equal to two crops upon the w T ell- cultivated land of 
this country. 



138 A TOUR IN THE 



ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. 



The day following we crossed the Alleghany moun- 
tains, on our route to the south. This very notable 
mountain range extends from north to south, nearly 1,000 
miles, and rises to the height of about 3,000 feet. The 
gradients of the railway appeared easy, and the windings 
disclosed a great deal of bold and precipitous scenery. 
In the highest altitudes there were groves of pine, 
hemlock, spruce, and other forest trees, as well as indige- 
nous flowering shrubs and plants, such as the azelias, 
rhododendrons, laurels, &c, in great luxuriance. Eising 
above the foot of the mountains we observed a great many 
little patches of forest land, recently cleared by a poor, 
miserable -looking class of cottier holders. Every one 
appeared to have been the architect, and the builder too, 
of his log cabin, formed of the trunks of trees lying one 
upon another in the round state, the ends having been 
notched with the hatchet, and juggled together at the 
corners of the building. The spaces or crevices formed 
by the round sides of the trees were filled up with earth 
or clay, and wattled smooth upon the surface : we seldom 
saw a window or a chimney, and a low doorway would be 
the only opening. The gypsy-looking women, with their 
children, would be outside, engaged in washing or cooking, 
having a boiling pot suspended over a crackling fire of 
pine logs. The presence of a cow and one or two heifers, 
with perhaps a donkey or a horse, would represent the 
farming stock of one of these, the most miserable-looking 
citizens we ever saw in the United States. Descending 
the eastern side of the mountain, we glided alongside of 



UNITED STATES. 139 

precipices and over many deep ravines, with mountain 
torrents looking very frightful, until at length we got 
down amongst the sunny slopes and the orchards whitened 
with the fruitage blossom of the spring. 

Having travelled upwards of 300 miles, we rested for 
the night at that very interesting place, Harper's Ferry. 
It is situated in a most picturesque spot in the state of 
Maryland, at the junction of the river Shenandoan with 
the Potomac, and betwixt two precipitous ridges of hills. 
The wild beauty of the sceneiy was unsurpassed by any 
we saw, and the place itself is well known for the 
extensive government manufactory of fire-arms. The 
operations of these works were interesting, principally 
from their having introduced the newly -invented machi- 
nery for forging, preparing, and fitting up the several 
parts of the military musket. The most ingenious appli- 
cation of machinery in use, was that of Mr. Blanchard's 
invention, employed in the gun-stocking department. The 
rude form of a stock was placed in a lathe, over against a 
revolving shaper of the required form, and this became 
the guide of the cutting tool : a continued succession of 
mechanical contrivances completed the work, so that in the 
course of twenty-two minutes the various parts could he 
brought into their places, and united together as an en- 
tire musket. 

Notwithstanding our affectation of reluctance to adopt 
Americanisms, we were informed that our government had 
made purchase of this machinery from the inventor, for 
the armoury at Enfield. The American superintendent, 
speaking of the relative merits of the English and Ameri- 
can workmen, remarked that he liked his own countrymen 



140 A TOUR IN THE 

most, because they possessed intelligence, and had higher 
aims : that the Enfield men could do their work well 
enough, but they were low-bred, and just rilled up their 
time betwixt the workshop and the beershop. 

Having reached a warmer atmosphere, we felt inclined 
to luxuriate, and indulge in social intercourse with friends 
in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, before we 
again made approach to the north. Our visit extended 
over a considerable portion of the New England states ; 
but our observations were principally directed to the state 
of Massachusetts, which is accounted the most wealthy 
and prosperous of any in the Union. Within this state 
are situated the eminent mercantile city of Boston, the 
manufacturing city of Lowell, together with the towns of 
Lawrence, Manchester, Holyoke, and many other thriving 
places, of great population and industry. It may also be 
added, that the indications of British origin appeared 
more marked in this than in any other state we visited. 

PILGRIM FATHERS. 

As a leading characteristic of this state, it would be 
deemed unpardonable not to refer to the remarkable histo- 
rical events in the career of the " Pilgrim Fathers/' who 
first founded it. Those who are familiar with our English 
history, will be aware that in the early part of the 17th 
century, the dominant portion of the religious community 
were in a state of angry excitement, and the Nonconform- 
ists were groaning under oppression and persecution. The 
exercise of despotic power over the minds of men, appea- 
red to be the order of the day, and disobedience to the 
authority of a state religion was deemed disaffection. The 



UNITED STATES. 14] 

spirit of the age appeared to insist that the combined 
authority of Church and State were entitled to exercise 
dominion over the souls as well as the bodies of men ; and 
the king required of them an entire submission of their 
reason and conscience. The assumption of such authority 
was an outrage for British freemen to endure ; and a con- 
flict of the fiercest character arose betwixt those who feared 
no authority but God alone, and the pretensions of royal 
and clerical authority. Amidst a series of changes, the 
ecclesiastical opinions which at length had been adopted 
by the bishops, must needs be enforced upon all other 
persons ; and those who chose to dissent, might be said to 
haye been deliberately hunted down. Their books were 
seized and publicly burnt; themselyes imprisoned by 
thousands ; and many pious, inoffensive Christian people 
endured as martyrs the extreme penalties of the law. 

Some of the leaders of the body of English Indepen- 
dents made their escape into Holland ; but, owing to their 
feelings being so intensely English, they became unhappy, 
and disliked the idea of allowing their families to inter- 
marry, and thus become Dutch. In this dilemma they 
agreed that some portion of them should sail for America, 
and prepare a way for the others to follow in succession ; 
and with this view they obtained a document, securing to 
themselves, as emigrants, liberty of worship in that 
colony. 

It was upon the 5th of August, in the year 1620, that 
about 120 of them embarked at Southampton, in that 
notable barque, the Mayflower ; but, owing to delays in 
their progress, it was the 6th of September before they 
got clear from Plymouth. After having been at sea nine 



142 A TOUR IN THE 

weeks, they made discovery of land, and found that it was 
inhabited by tribes of Indian hunters. One of the pil- 
grim party whilst roaming about, was ensnared in a trap 
which the Indians had laid for the capture of deer. He 
had observed that the point of a young tree had been 
bent to the ground, and in making his approach to dis- 
cover the device, the point suddenly sprung from its 
fastening, tucked him up by the heel, and held his body 
suspended in the air. Of course his friends lost no time 
in having him extricated from his perilous position ; but 
it may easily be supposed that such an incident could 
hardly occur without affording some amusement even to 
so grave a company. 

From a place so unpromising they very soon withdrew, 
re-entered the ship, and continued to move about on the 
coast until the 11th December, when they discovered a 
more tempting spot, one which they adopted as a settle- 
ment, and gave to it the name of New Plymouth, in 
grateful memory of the port from which they had set sail 
from Old England. On their arrival, nearly the whole of 
them were suffering from fevers, coughs, and general 
sickness, and a considerable number were too far prostrated 
ever to recover. Indeed, the inroad of disease amongst 
the party became so severe, that before winter was over 
there remained only 50 of the 101 settlers ; and such was 
the prevailing debility, that at one time they had only 
seven persons who were competent to the burial of the 
dead. So large a number of victims from disease, must 
have been deeply prostrating to the spirits of the sur- 
vivors ; but there were other troubles in store which 
also proved very disheartening. Their supplies of food 



UNITED STATES, 143 

became so scanty, that for six months they had to subsist 
upon half rations ; and even during the third year, their 
destitution was so severe, that at one time they dealt out 
their last pint of corn at the rate of five grains a man. 
This appears to have been the last extremity of their 
personal sufferings. 

They then discovered that their distress had arisen from 
the adoption of a policy which had proved far more ami- 
able than wise, namely, the social or common property 
system ; and when they had ascertained that the effect 
had been to protract their sufferings, they abandoned 
this arrangement of mutual interests, and adopted the 
more solid foundation of individual property. They very 
soon found that a stimulus had been given to the general 
activity and contentment of the people, and in a very 
short time they were raising a surplus of corn as an 
article of merchandise. 

As a community of settlers, they found it necessary to 
effect a treaty with the Indian tribes, and having attained 
full possession of the province, they proceeded to establish 
a form of government which should be popular, and in 
all respects becoming the champions of freedom. 

The elements of character, and the mission of those 
sturdy " Pilgrim Fathers," will ever be honoured: they 
had become willing exiles from their native land in order 
that they might themselves enjoy, and afterwards be- 
queath to their descendants, the inestimable treasure of 
Christian liberty. 

Passing from the other chequered events which at- 
tended their course, before the success of their original 
design had become permanently established, we may re- 



144 A TOUR IN THE 

mark upon the weakness which afterwards betrayed them 
into error. Finding themselves, as they supposed, se- 
curely invested with an array of political power, which 
rendered their authority absolute, they very unguardedly 
forgot themselves, and allowed the attachment they had 
for their own form of religion, to outweigh the affection 
they had previously professed for the sacred cause of 
Christian liberty. 

Twenty-five years had scarcely passed over their heads 
before the impressive lamentations of their fathers over 
the persecutions they had suffered from the English 
bishops had not only been forgotten, but they had fallen 
into the like example, and in an evil hour had themselves 
become the persecutors of others. No doubt that in the 
first formation of their laws they aimed at social equality; 
they strove to direct the energies and purify the morals 
of the people ; they wisely avoided the errors of the feu- 
dal or aristocratic system, and the primogeniture laws of 
the mother country ; but how often are we reminded, that 
"to err is human." And, despite the knowledge they 
possessed, they were unable to resist the desire to "lord 
it" over the consciences of other men. They enacted a 
law to establish uniformity of religious belief, and thus at 
once adopted the intolerant and persecuting spirit which 
had driven them into exile. 

In like manner they undertook, in the authority of their 
own law, the seizure and burning of obnoxious books ; 
then, step by step, they proceeded to the infliction of tor- 
ture, and the maiming of the person of offenders ; thence 
followed imprisonment, and at length their atrocities 
reached the department of the gallows, just as the Eng- 



UNITED STATES. 145 

lish had dealt with their fathers at Tyburn. Unhappily, 
the memorial of this guilt does not admit the plea of ig- 
norance. They must have been familiar with the ill- 
success of every attempt to enforce belief, from the ex- 
ample of Nebuchadnezzar down to the recent case of their 
own predecessors. Fortunately, however, this pilgrim 
community had not yet become their own masters ; they 
were colonists under the British crown, and the brutality 
of their proceedings received the salutary check of a 
mandamus from Charles II. They were then enabled to 
perceive, as in a mirror, the outrage they had inflicted upon 
that high and holy cause which had been intrusted into 
their hands to exalt and establish : persecution was abo- 
lished, and the spirit of enlightened freedom which anima- 
ted that little cargo of fugitives in the Mayflower, has since 
enlarged her proportions and founded her empire in New 
England. 

Passing onwards, there is the evidence of material 
progress on every hand. No one visiting Massachusetts 
can fail to observe the incalculable advantages which have 
accrued from such indomitable people. In no other part 
of the United States did we find education so universal, or 
the social and intellectual condition of the people so 
manifestly progressive, — where devotedness to industry 
was so marked, — where inventive genius was so prevalent, 
— or where the spirit of manufacturing and commercial 
enterprise was existing in such healthy activity. Amongst 
the native inhabitants we did not hear of a single case of 
downright ignorance, nor of the alloy of pauperism : in- 
deed, it would seem that there is not in any other part of 

the world a country in which the elements of human hap- 
K 



146 A TOUR IN THE 

piness are more amply diffused amongst all classes of the 
people. 

BOSTON. 

The mercantile city of Boston is not formed in straight 
lines of streets, as most of the other cities of the Union ; 
and in this respect it resembles an English city. There 
was architectural taste displayed, but this was not so stri- 
king as to require special notice. We may record our 
visit to the very plain monumental erection over the tomb 
of Franklin ; and this was the only instance in which we 
remember to have met with any public recognition of that 
very eminent character. The mercantile reputation of the 
city is known in every country. The inhabitants have 
been described as quiescent and persevering. The su- 
burbs, although not situated in the most fertile country we 
had seen, presented a good deal of varied natural beauty ;> 
and in the course of a morning's drive afforded agreeable 
interest. In the vicinity of Brookline, Cambridge, Dor- 
chester, and other surrounding places, there was a highly- 
creditable array of mansions, villas, and other genteel re- 
sidences. The cemetery of Mount Auburn is of great 
extent, the surface undulated, the landscape adorned with 
trees and shrubs ; the character of the design, the inclo- 
sures around family vaults, and the monuments, altogether 
afford the evidence of a commendable taste and feeling. 
We passed the residence of the poet Longfellow ; and in 
the distance we observed the monument on Bunker's Hill, 
which reminded us of the struggle for independence, and 
the historical associations of 1775. 

Within this state have been originated many ingenious 
inventions of great importance to the world at large ; and 



UNITED STATES, 147 

the seats of manufacture which are diffused throughout 
the country, attest the existence of a vast extent of capi- 
tal and industry. To enumerate these inventions, and to 
offer any remarks upon more than a few of them, would 
be beyond the limits of a lecture. The card-making ma- 
chine for the manufacture of mill cards for wool, cotton, 
and silk, was the discovery of a citizen of Boston, and is 
now used almost universally. The sewing machine was 
also from this state; and referring to the u Song of the 
Shirt," and the lamentable condition of the sempstress, we 
may rejoice that more than one hundred of these machines 
are now being employed by one house in London ; that 
900 of them are already at work in Glasgow ; and that 
their introduction into the trade of shoemaking is creating 
something like a revolution amongst the hands engaged 
in that sedentary and unwholesome employment, 

The invention before noticed for the manufacture of 
fire-arms, is also from Springfield, in this state. Indeed, 
it would be impossible to enumerate all the mechanical 
inventions received from the United States. We may, 
however, proceed to notice the manifold printing press, 
which has afforded such important aid in the success of 
cheap newspapers and other publications. The machine 
which Mr. Piatt, of Oldham, has recently received, for the 
manufacture of bricks ; the washing machine, and the re- 
volver, are also American : and let us not forget the horse 
tamer. Eeferring to the examples of manufacturing in- 
dustry, the following may serve to indicate the cha- 
racter of their progress, 

The premises of the New England Screw Company, 
Providence, Ehode Island, are extensive, and well-arranged 



148 A TOUR IN THE 

for the manufacture of screws, principally those required 
for carpenters' work. The invention is one of great merit, 
and the machine performs a variety of operations of con- 
siderable delicacy. The wire, when properly annealed, is 
cut into the requisite lengths, and proceeds from one 
machine to another ; first to form and nick the head, then 
to turn and worm the shank, and lastly to give the screw 
the advantage of a gimlet point. 

Mr. Henry Burden, of Troy, a native of Dumblane, in 
Scotland, has invented a machine for the manufacture of 
horse-shoes, at the rate of sixty per minute ; whilst in the 
ordinary process two men can forge only sixty per day. 

MANUFACTURES OF COTTON, WOOLLEN, ETC. 

Massachusetts is pre-eminent for its mill manufactures. 
In this state there are streams of water too shallow for 
navigation, which have been converted into mill streams, 
and a great number of manufacturing establishments have 
been erected upon them ; — the largest cf these being at 
Lowell, and at Lawrence, on the Merrimack river. The 
latter place was the one we first visited ; and from the 
elevated ground of our approach, it was almost astounding 
to discover at one view large factories extending nearly a 
mile, alongside a broad river, and behind these nearly a 
square mile of ground, covered with dwelling-houses, 
shops, and all the other requirements for a population of 
17,000 inhabitants, most of whom had been attracted thi- 
ther during the ten years of the growth of the mills. We 
found that these mills were employed in the various pro- 
cesses of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, and print- 
ing of cotton. Those to which our attention was more 



UNITED .STATES. 149 

immediately directed, were the mills] of " The Atlantic 
Company/' They have four large water wheels of 1,750 
horses power ; their machinery consisted of 80,000 spin- 
dles (mule and throstle), and 1,400 power looms. This 
company manufactures about 1,000 bales of cotton per 
month, affording employment to 1,100 workpeople, the 
proportions being 350 males, and 750 females. The young 
"hands" are received at twelve years of age, and attend 
at school one quarter of each year until the age of fifteen. 
The hours of working are eleven per day, or 66 for the 
w r eek, as they allow no indulgence for Saturdays. Not- 
withstanding the completeness of these works, the shares 
of this company were selling at a discount of 40 per cent. 
The mills of " The Pacific Company' ' were also engaged 
in cotton manufactures ; but in addition to the departments 
for spinning and weaving, they had also other works for 
bleaching and calico printing. The extent of their machi- 
nery was not complete in every department ; but the mag- 
nitude of the works may be estimated from the presence 
of no less than thirty-two steam boilers at work, all under 
one roof. Their bleaching was upon the recently -impro- 
ved process of the bleachers of Lancashire. In one room 
we saw twelve printing machines ; some of them were 
working upon seven or eight colours, and every machine 
was turned by its own little steam engine. The printing 
room was very commodious and well-lighted ; the ma- 
chines were arranged in a very systematic manner; and 
two-thirds of the workmen were English. In connection 
with these works, the proprietors have appropriated a 
large building for popular entertainments. The public 
room will accommodate one thousand persons ; and during 



150 A TOUR IN THE 

the previous winter, six concerts "had been held, and seven 
lectures delivered. The discount upon the shares of this 
company, was 75 per cent. 

In all parts of the country we found public schools ; 
and in those of the Lawrence Mills there were present as 
many as 600 children and young persons, some of whom 
were more than twenty years of age. We had the curio- 
sity to test the pursuits of the scholars, by requesting 
those to stand up whose families belonged to the factory ; 
and we found that they amounted to one -half. 

The greatest portion of the factory workers were fe- 
males from distant parts of the country, and as they had 
to be provided with lodgings, the proprietors have public 
lodging-houses erected for their accommodation. The one 
which we visited was under the presiding authority of a 
matron, who showed us through the house, and informed 
us that she w T as able to provide for sixty " young ladies." 
The drawing room was respectably — not to say genteelly 
furnished : we noticed the marble chimney pieces, the 
carpeted floor, large mirrors, the piano, music books, and 
the various little work tables, and other appurtenances, 
intended to contribute to the enjoyment of the inmates. 
Entering the dining room, we found that three tables had 
been spread for the dinner : the table service w T as plain, 
and complete in every respect. The cooking range and 
other apparatus for the kitchen, was very commodious ; 
joints of meat were roasting, and an abundance of other 
food was being prepared for the table. The lodging rooms 
have two plain bedsteads, such as those made at Cin- 
cinnatti ; also dressing glass, toilet, and wardrobe. 

We noticed that books, magazines, and other periodi- 



UNITED STATES. 151 

cals, were lying about ; and altogether there seemed an 
air of comfort and cleanliness, such as might indicate that 
every department was well ordered. These factory girls 
— as in this country we are accustomed to designate them, 
or the u young ladies/'' under American definition- — are 
mostly the daughters of small farmers, traders, or labour- 
ers, from distant parts of the country, whose services are 
not required in their own families. Every one of these 
would be unwilling to enter into other families as domestic 
servants, but they are glad to avail themselves of em- 
ployment in the factories, in order that they may realise a 
few dollars of money savings before they marry. They 
can all read and write ; and in the evenings they employ 
themselves in needlework or in reading ; and at ten o'clock 
the door is closed for the night. 

LOWELL. 

Lowell has taken the lead as a factory city. The 
vigour of its early career was derived from the war of 1812 
between Great Britain and the United States, when the 
importation of all kinds of fabrics was closed. Public 
attention was at that time directed to the encouragement 
of manufactures ; fiscal duties and other regulations, by 
way of bounty, were enacted by Congress ; and in a very 
short time the Merrimack river was dammed up by weirs, 
and converted into a propeller of machinery. At that time 
Lowell took a start of activity, and in 1826 was incorporated 
as a town. From that period its prosperity became more 
fully established ; and in 1854 the population had reached 
37,000. The available waterfall of 33 feet in height, with 
a supply of 36,000 cubic feet of water per second of time, 



152 A TOUR IN THE 

being, according to the usual calculation of engineers, 
nearly 9,000 horses power, is now fully occupied ; and no 
fewer than twelve great manufacturing corporations had 
risen into existence, having in operation fifty factories, 
mostly employed upon cotton, possessing 400,000 spin- 
dles, 12,000 power looms, and representing a capital of 
betwixt two and three millions sterling. 

There is ample evidence that mental activity has kept 
pace with industrial progress ; as upwards of forty public 
journals have been started. Several of these have gone 
down; but the journal most extensively known, is the 
" Lowell Offering," a monthly periodical published from the 
year 1840 to 1845, and devoted mainly to the effusions of 
the young ladies employed in the mills. The principal 
mover was Miss Harriet Farley, an operative, and the 
daughter of a clergyman at Amesbury. Many of the 
essays evinced respectable talent and correct taste, and 
some of them have since been collected and published in 
a volume entitled " Mind among the Spindles." There 
are now published in Lowell, three daily and five weekly 
newspapers of considerable circulation. In regard to the 
mechanical construction and the other arrangements of the 
mills of Lowell, they resemble those we have already 
described. The machinery was well made, and the 
machine makers, whose works we saw, were not only keep- 
ing pace with every improvement effected in England, but 
themselves were possessed of great inventive genius, and 
appeared ever on the stretch to excel in new discoveries. 
The command of water power derived from the Merrimack 
having now become exhausted by the mills already in 
existence, the pressure for an increase of power has in- 



UNITED STATES. 153 

duced some of the proprietors to adopt the turbine in place 
of the bucket water wheel. The turbine wheel is based 
upon the model of the " Barker's Mill," which is the most 
ancient appliance of water, and by dint of modern mech- 
anism it has been made to yield more power from the same 
supply of water than the bucket wheel will give. 

The consumption of cotton by the manufacturers of 
the United States has continued to enlarge, and has now 
reached about one -third of the consumption of this coun- 
try, The enjoyment of a protective policy, together with 
charges upon imports, affords to the American manufac- 
turer a large gain in addition to his profit on the manufac- 
ture ; and we were informed by the parties themselves, 
that during the last twenty years their profits had been 
enormous. But we were also informed that it would be a 
mistake to suppose that they had been fortunate in money 
making ; that they had to incur very heavy expenses in 
conducting their concerns ; and the advantages to the 
proprietary, as measured by the protection they enjoyed, 
were by no means realised. Their ill-success in this re- 
spect may require to be accounted for. The proprietor of 
a factory in this country resides near the spot, undertakes 
the discharge of his own duties as an employer, conducts 
his own marketing, and feels himself the master of his 
position as a capitalist. In the case of a Joint- Stock 
Company in the United States, this is utterly imprac- 
ticable. The generality of these companies are got up in 
New York or Boston by some agent, who expects to be 
intrusted with the conducting of the business. Thus the 
proprietors enter the scheme knowing that they shall be 
charged with commissions upon every article bought or 



154 A TOUR IN THE 

sold ; also with heavy expenses attendant upon the system 
of long credits, and bill transactions. 

Having heard of the celebrity of Lowell, we observed 
with great interest every feature in relation to the opera- 
tive class. In the streets, we saw nothing like abject 
poverty, nor any indication of rude or coarse behaviour j 
but, on the contrary, the evidence of an orderly, intelli- 
gent people, sober, sedate, and persevering. The most 
pleasing feature was the superiority of the young females. 
Being chiefly from the country, they were mostly well 
grown, and in personal appearance superior to the gene- 
rality of other females in the United States ; and in their 
demeanour they manifested a degree of self-respect very 
much in advance of any similar class we have seen in this 
country. The cultivation of refinement amongst them is 
studiously promoted by the proprietors. They are provi- 
ded with dressing apartments adjoining the spinning 
rooms, having all the requisite accommodations for wash- 
ing, and for changing their dress. Traits of character 
deserving of admiration were frequently communicated to 
us ; that amongst the thousands of New England females 
leaving their rural homes, and entering the mills, great 
numbers of them have by their frugality acquired ample 
means to assist their parents, elevate their families, and 
endow with money savings the homes of their husbands, 
when married. 



UNITED STATES. 155 



SIXTH LECTURE. 



Throughout our visit to the New England States, 
everything we met with was looking so very English, 
and we .became so familiar with the people, that at 
length it was needful to become aroused to the pursuit of 
our next object of interest. Having reached Utica, we 
concluded to make a detour to the Trenton Falls, as 
a minor sight preparatory to the grandeur of the Falls 
of Niagara. They are approached through a deep ravine, 
under the sloping sides of a forest ; and the places ap- 
pointed for observation are mostly difficult of access. 
There is a considerable volume of water precipitated over 
a rocky bed of the river, forming a variety of beautiful 
cascades ; and the effect is rendered very picturesque by 
the scenery of the surrounding woods. We noticed how 
utterly valueless the timber appeared ; we saw immense 
trees lying where they had fallen, in a state of decay ; 
whilst abundance of young ones were starting up to fill 
their places. The day following, as we passed along by 
railway, we were amused to observe how very many little 
modern towns were honoured with names of antiquity, 
such as Palmyra, Syracuse, Eome, and other cities of the 
old world. In Canada there was none of this pretension ; 
on the contrary, the Canadian people have contented them- 
selves with the original, and often more sonorous Indian 
names, such as that of Toronto. At length we approached 



156 A TOUR IN THE 

the great wonder of creation ; and at the stopping stations 
were impatient to hear the first sound of the cataract. 
Whilst crossing the stupendous iron bridge over the 
Niagara river, we got a passing glimpse of the Falls, but 
the evening was too far advanced for observation. The 
ever-present roar of the cataract was reverberating in our 
ears, though by no means obstructing our conversation. 
The window frames and the floor were in a constant tre- 
mor. The following morning revealed the great object of 
our impatient desires ; but the falls did not at first occa- 
sion a degree of surprise so overpowering as we had ex- 
pected. The sight was, indeed, sublime and terrific, far 
beyond our immediate comprehension to realise ; and 
whilst dwelling with intense interest upon the scene, 
communing in the stillness of our own thoughts, we were 
often irresistibly held to the spot, quite overcome with 
mingled feelings of astonishment, admiration, and delight, 
unutterable in words. The cataract immediately before 
us was the great Canadian or Horse-shoe Falls, 1,900 feet 
in breadth, and 160 feet in height ; and upon our left 
there was another cataract of smaller dimensions, upon 
the American side of the river. 

For several days we wandered about in contemplative 
amazement, following the course of the stream, and visit- 
ing the whirlpool below. The sight which we found the 
most impressive in its effect, was obtained from the sum- 
mit of a tower overlooking the Horse-shoe Fall, and dis- 
closing at once that terrific chasm into which all this water 
was being tumbled headlong. The current, as it glides 
over the cataract, looks delightfully smooth and graceful ; 
and when it has reached the bottom, it rolls about, appa- 



UNITED STATES. 157 

rently fathoming the depths of the pool, and trying to 
resist the impulse of an onward movement. The scene 
was often obscured by rising clouds of mist; and an occa- 
sional sunbeam would enliven the effect, by presenting 
before us a rainbow in all its prismatic beauty. 

This may serve as a brief description of Niagara ; but 
the following account affords a far more graphic expression 
of the effect usually produced upon a stranger. The 
correspondent of the " Times" says — 

1 ' Nowhere on this planet does sncli a mass of water make such, a 
leap. The Niagara drains 150,000 sqnare miles of the northern conti- 
nent through the reservoirs of the upper lakes ; — not Loch Lomonds 
and "Windermere s, but inland seas, in which England, Scotland, and 
"Wales, might he submerged, and leave nothing visible but the tops of 
a few mountains to dot the surface as islands. Ten of these oceans 
and their feeders — more than a hundred rivers — pour their waters at 
last through this one channel of the Niagara ; and the intense com- 
pression of these collected floods in the narrow bed of the torrent, 
pent for miles between steep walls of rock, and driven through a 
chasm not half as wide as the Rhine, gives a better measure of the 
immensity of the Falls, than can be made by the eye alone. Great as 
are the dimensions of the cataract, neither their height nor the extent 
of surface visible, tells all the tale. To the first glance they are even 
somewhat disappointing : it is only by degrees the gigantic power at 
work is appreciated. Nor is the noise so loud as would be anticipated. 
It does not ' thunder :' it is a low, deep, and continued roar ; and you 
may converse on the very edge of the Fall without raising the voice, 
though the concussion shakes the rock under your feet. 

"The flood as it turns over the precipice is smooth and glassy, but 
it has the green tinge given by great depths, and under the smooth- 
ness of surface is a force that would sweep away anything made by 
hands. * * A condemned steamer, the Detroit, drawing 18 feet 
of water, was carried over the Falls as lightly as a cork. She never 
touched the rocks with her keel, until she was precipitated, still 
shapely and beautiful, a hundred and fifty feet below ; and then down 
— down — no one knows, or ever will know, how many fathoms into a 
lower deep, scooped out by the incessant action of the Falls, to re- 



158 A TOUR IN THE 

appear a few minutes afterwards a chaotic and unconnected mass of 
beams, spars, and floating timbers. 

' ' For many days I lingered in the purlieus of Niagara. I often 
walked from the suspension bridge along the Canadian shore, getting 
at every turn a new glimpse of loveliness ; and on other occasions 
have sat for hours on Prospect Tower, with no companion but a book 
of favourite poems, and the eternal music of the Falls. In storm, in 
shine, in moonlight, and in mist, in all weathers and hours, — I have 
feasted upon the beauty and tranquillity of the scene ; for as soon as 
the ear becomes accustomed to the roar of the waters, they descend 
with a lulling and soothing sound. And when at last I was compelled 
to take my last look, and travel to new regions, I repeated to myself, 
neither for the first nor the last time — 'I have lived, and loved, and 
seen Niagara. '" 

Amid this reverie of delight, a communication reached 
ns from his Excellency the Governor- General of Canada, 
requesting our company at an entertainment on the eve of 
his departure for England. Having reached Toronto, we 
had the enjoyment of an evening's intercourse with the 
elite of Canada. 



THE PROVINCE OF CANADA. 

Before we enter upon the narrative of our travels, let 
us take a cursory glance at the Canadian country and its 
institutions, as one of the most hopeful colonies we pos- 
sess. The extent is estimated at 350,000 square miles, — 
being nearly three times the area of Great Britain and 
Ireland. The country is formed into the two divisions of 
Upper and Lower Canada ; but for all legislative purposes 
they constitute one province. Lower Canada is the older 
settlement, and the inhabitants are chiefly descended from 
the French. They subdivide their farms, raise but little 
beyond what they require to eat, therefore have not much 



UNITED STATES, 159 

to sell, and possess but little means to buy whatever they 
may want. 

Upper'Canada presents to the emigrant the attractions 
of a fine champaign country, and contains a great breadth 
of excellent land. Some parts of the Ottawa district are 
considered so productive, that they have been denominated 
the "Garden of Canada West." The inhabitants are a 
hardy, enterprising people : and the staple products of the 
country are wheat and oats. The forests rank scarcely 
second in importance to agriculture ; and the valley of the 
Ottawa is the centre of the operations of " lumbering," as 
the forest pursuits are usually termed. From this part 
are annually supplied about twenty-five millions cubic feet 
of pine timber, for the markets of Europe ; and large as 
this supply may appear, there is a region of forests almost 
unexplored, which is estimated to be sufficient to continue 
this supply for 150 years to come, independently of the 
growth which in the meantime may be maturing. 

A contractor for " lumber" secures a district of forest 
country of fifty or a hundred square miles in extent. He 
clears enough ground for a farm to supply his stores of 
provisions, erects dwellings for his workmen, and has them 
placed in "gangs" for operation upon the most marketable 
timber. He constructs temporary bridges, and opens out 
avenues leading to the nearest navigable rivers. His 
arrangements comprise an outfit of every article necessary 
for a staff of about seventy persons. The first fall of snow 
levels the inequalities of the ground, and forms the basis 
of a sort of natural railroad for the conveyance of his 
timber ; and the balks are then formed into rafts, for float- 
ing down the rivers to Montreal or Quebec. 



160 A TOUR IN THE 

The climate is severe, yet eminently salubrious ; the 
summer season is short and hot, and brings forward the 
crops with singular rapidity. The winter commences 
early, with a brilliant sky, a keen frost, and pure elastic 
air, — continuing about eight months of the year. The 
farmer raises a stock of fat cattle, preserves the meat by 
freezing ; and the live stock which he retains, require to 
be provided with a large supply of hay during the seven 
months' absence of grass. There are no coals or manu- 
factures. The timber they export pays for the imports of 
the colony. 

The colonial affairs of most countries are often mis- 
managed, perhaps because they are little understood by 
the ruling powers ; and therefore it is no wonder that our 
North American provinces have had to pass through 
manifold troubles, — such, for instance, as the disturbances 
betwixt the French and English Canadians, in the year 
1838. 

The discontent which at one time prevailed, did not 
escape the notice of Lord Durham when he was governor 
of the colony, and he restored tranquillity by giving to the 
people a more democratic basis of power, — a policy which 
was widely at variance with the previous exercise of royal 
authority, and more nearly resembling the political institu- 
tion of the United States. In the year 1849, it was 
publicly stated "that their exchequer was exhausted, their 
commerce severely crippled, and their credit depreciated." 
In that year Lord John Eussell, the secretary for the 
colonies, had become convinced of the soundness of the 
principle of self-government, and Canada was released 
from her leading strings, excepting only that the power of 



UNITED STATES. 161 

veto was reserved to trie British government, to be exer- 
cised in cases of foreign policy ; and this provision has 
seldom been required to be used. 

The constitutional government and legislature of Cana- 
da, consist of a Governor- General, appointed by the crown, 
a Legislative Council consisting of forty members nominat- 
ed for life by the crown; and fifty- eight members returned 
by electoral divisions. The Lower House, or Legislative 
Assembly, consists of 130 members. The elective fran- 
chise is extended to <£6 tenantry in towns, and to «£4 in 
the rural districts. The only check upon voting is the 
administration of an. oath. Two days are allowed for elec- 
tions, and twelve members retire every two years. It may 
be observed that when the ligatures of the Home Govern- 
ment became relaxed, the loyalty and attachment of the 
people increased. The population in 1848 was under one 
million and a-half, and in ten years it was doubled. This 
increase consisted for the most part of a sturdy emigrant 
class, and they imparted new life-blood into the colony, 
extended the range of civilization, consolidated the charac- 
ter of the older settlements, and the result has been that 
the value of property has become doubled. Under this 
new political regime the energies of the people have been 
liberated for action upon the natural resources of the 
country, with remarkable success. Their imports have 
increased two-fold. In the year 1852, there was not a 
single railway in all Canada, whilst at the present time 
there are in operation upwards of 2,000 miles. 

Their system of education affords the evidence of how 
much may be done when the people themselves are allowed 
to fulfil the obvious duties of a community. Every child 



162 A TOUR IN THE 

in Canada is entitled to receive an education; and an 
adequate number of schools, colleges, and universities are 
provided for their instruction. These are managed by 
trustees locally appointed, and are mainly supported by 
rating, although they are receiving aid to the extent of 
<£90,000 a-year from the provincial exchequer. The tea- 
chers are non-sectarian ; and no regard is had to politics, 
or to any particular religious belief, excepting only in the 
case of Catholics and Protestants, who are allowed to have 
some extent of isolation of their children in the schools. 

An attempt has been made, but without success, to 
establish sectarian advantages, and & reserve of one se- 
venth of the lands of Upper Canada was appropriated for 
the benefit of the Episcopalian church, and the support of 
a Protestant clergy. This attempt aroused the indigna- 
tion of the other churches, and they not only demurred to 
the justice of the grant, but publicly asserted and demanded 
their rights. The legislature, rinding that every attempt 
to compromise the question had been unsuccessful, termi- 
nated the affair, commuted the stipends already granted, 
and the proposal for the endowment of an Established 
Church was finally abandoned. 

Canada, no doubt, is rising ; but the resources of the 
country are overpowered with expenditure and debt. 

THE RAPIDS. 

Parties leaving Toronto for Montreal and Quebec, look 
upon the affair of navigation with some excitement, as 
well as interest. In the first instance, we had a large 
steamer down Lake Ontario to the entrance of the river 
St. Lawrence, at Ogdensburgh. At this place we took a 



UNITED STATES. 163 

smaller boat, to glide down the Eapids. The river 
scenery is perhaps unsurpassed for variety and beauty. 
In the course of the first forty or fifty miles, we had a 
delightfully meandering sail through the " Thousand Is- 
lands' 7 studded about in the river, many of them most 
beautifully adorned in the wildness of nature, and in most 
picturesque groups. The width of this river is ever vary- 
ing : in one place it would be ten miles across, and in 
another only a mile. Occasionally there is a narrow gorge 
having a rocky bottom. Above this, a swell of water 
would be collected, and would descend with a violent 
sweep, forming the well-known " rapids," so full of interest 
to the passenger. The safety of the boat is more or less 
imperilled as it shoots like a dart through some narrow 
current betwixt the sunken rocks. The danger appears 
frightful, and all on board are intensely observant, and 
quite alive to the fact that one false move, or one touch 
upon the rocks, and the boat would be shivered to atoms. 
Passing through this critical part of the river, a red Indian 
was taken on board as pilot and steersman. He was a fine 
manly specimen, evidently partaking an admixture of the 
white race, possessed of good nerve, and his quick eye 
was ever fixed ahead upon the course of the river. This 
man's services were considered necessary, on account of 
his having acquired a thorough knowledge of the river 
long before steamers had ventured upon it. Another fea- 
ture of interest was the number as well as the magnitude 
of the rafts of timber, floating down from the upper coun- 
try for shipment to Europe. We observed that one of the 
largest of these w r as provided with eleven masts, twenty- 
four men, and four dwellings for their accommodation. 



16 Jt A TOUR IN THE 

MONTREAL. 

Montreal is 350 miles below Toronto, and 170 above 
Quebec. The city has 60,000 inhabitants, and is the lar- 
gest seat of commerce in British America. The public 
buildings are massive and costly. Above the city is a 
bold romantic eminence called Mount Eoyal, from which 
the city is said to derive its name. On all sides it is 
fringed with villas ; and commands a very extensive view 
over the distant country. The great feature of Montreal 
is the Victoria Bridge, which has recently been completed, 
and carries the Grand Trunk Eailway across the St. Law- 
rence ; — a work of art which may be considered one of the 
wonders of the age. 

QUEBEC. 

We next visited the former capital of Canada — Quebec. 
The principal part of the city is on a rocky promontory, at 
the height of 300 feet above the river, and crowned by a 
strongly-fortified citadel. It was near Quebec, and in the 
year 1759, that the military event took place which trans- 
ferred the possession of Canada from the French to the 
English nation ; and upon the site of the battle-ground, 
now called the Plains of Abraham, a monument has been 
erected to commemorate the event, bearing the inscription 
— "Here died Wolfe victorious.' 7 

The scenery around Quebec is somewhat romantic ; and 
we had two or three agreeable excursions to visit the 
Canadian waterfalls, and other sights. The Montmorenci 
Fall is 240 feet in height, and has a river of 60 feet wide 
falling over it in one broad sheet of billowy foam. This 
stream was working a saw mill having one hundred saws. 



UNITED STATES. 165 

The machinery was ingenious, and the process systematic. 
The proprietor showed us how rapidly one of those im- 
mense rafts could be converted into planks and boards ; 
and how important a part of their economy it was to work 
up the fragments of timber into water buckets, as they 
were then doing to the extent of thirty dozens per day. 
We took an excursion to an Indian village, so called, 
and were introduced to an old man, who was represented 
as the chieftain. We heard it stated that the red man 
wont serve for wages, and that the females won't enter into 
domestic service, therefore they acquire but little know- 
ledge of civilization, and don't advance in life ; and that they 
never forgive an injury, and are barbarously resentful. The 
chief amused us by adorning himself with his cap and 
feathers, his tomahawk, his musket, pipe of peace, &c. &c. ; 
and his son informed us that their tribe belonged to the 
Huron country ; that they were fast wearing out as a peo- 
ple, and becoming a mixed race; and having nearly aban- 
doned the chase, they were beginning to enter into 
employments. They could still find the moose deer and 
other wild animals in the interior, at some distance from 
the cultivated parts of the country. There was a village 
school, but as our visit was at the hour for dinner, we did 
not test the children'' s proficiency in learning. We ob- 
served that their favourite game was archery ; and the 
boys showed us how they could win our copper coins by 
shooting them down at ten yards distance. Around Que- 
bec the country is inhabited by people who are chiefly the 
descendants of the French settlers ; and, according to 
French custom, the fields have been divided and sub-divi- 
ded into very narrow strips. There was an absence of 



166 A TOUR IN THE 

enterprise, and too much of an aspect of contentment 
about the people. The roofs of the honses are of tin, and 
they present a painfully dazzling effect to the eye from the 
glittering of the sun. 

In Lower Canada we heard expressions somewhat un- 
generous towards the people of Upper Canada ; namely, 
that they had busied themselves in concocting railways 
and public works, and had selected and sent to England 
persons whom they thought would be influential in raising 
large sums of money, and that now they had become bur- 
thened with a debt so large, that it would be well for 
Canada if they could raise enough to pay the interest 
falling due. And in reference to the great natural advan- 
tages possessed by Canada in the products of the sail, and 
in the extent of inland navigation of lakes and rivers, that 
the Canadian people had not shown themselves sufficiently 
alive to their own interests, but that they had allowed the 
Americans to run away with an undue share of the 
benefits. 

An instance was adduced of the tact of the American 
people, in cutting the Erie canal, and thus getting posses- 
sion of the grain traffic from Lake Erie to New York, in- 
stead of allowing it to pass by the ordinary channel of the 
St. Lawrence to the Canadian cities. The Americans had 
thus secured not only the freight, but the profits of the 
millers on the banks of the canal, and those also of the 
merchants of New York. It was insisted that these mer- 
cantile advantages could have been retained to Canada, if 
the solid attractions for the investment of capital had been 
equally favourable. That amongst men of enterprise, a 
bias had been existing towards the political freedom of the 



UNITED STATES. 167 

United States, and a strong dislike of the restrictions 
imposed upon the Canadians. 

On the same grounds it was shown that the current of 
emigration had favoured the early colonization of Ohio ; 
whilst on the opposite side of Lake Erie, which divided 
the two countries, the Canadian province had remained in 
a state of comparative neglect : that all those choice lands 
of Upper Canada bordering upon Lake Erie, were even 
now but thinly peopled ; whilst the population of Ohio 
was more than two millions. Also, that no less than 
40,000 of these were members of the Society of Friends ; 
whilst in Canada there was scarcely one of that body to 
be found. Therefore, whether this partiality of the Friends 
had or had not to do with politics, the fact of their prefer- 
ence of the Ohio country had doubtless been of great 
importance to that state, in laying the first foundations of 
social order and prudential habits in a community of set- 
tlers. From the observations of enlarged intercourse with 
intelligent Canadians, as well as Americans, it was acknow- 
ledged that the political constitution of Canada was now 
become one of sound character. The representation 
was as low as in any country, excepting the United States, 
and there were politicians in that country who considered 
that they had gone too far. 

Following, as we have endeavoured to do, the success- 
ful results of the enlightened policy of the present day, as 
contrasted with the previous period of royal and misguided 
authority, we now take our leave of the colony, with the 
following extract from the " Saturday Keview," in relation 
to the proposed visit of the future King of England to the 
colony which may one day fall under his rule : — 



168 A TOUR IN THE 

"The intended visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada, is announ- 
ced. It will convince him of the many nice shades of difference in 
opinion and sentiment which separate each section of the human com- 
munity from all the rest. * * To make exactly right allowance 
for them, is one great secret of state-craft ; and the Prince could no- 
where learn the lesson to greater advantage than among two curiously 
heterogeneous, and in some respects contrasted communities, of which 
the Canadian nation consists. For these communities have, almost 
during the Prince's own lifetime, passed through nearly every vicissi- 
tude. There has been the smouldering of discontent, the wild blaze 
of rebellion, the reaction of patriotism, the steady growth of affec- 
tionate loyalty. Everywhere there has been change, effort, progress ; 
evils met by their proper cure, — causes leading to their immediate 
result. If Royalty is to go to school, where better than in such a 
country could the lessons be learnt that are most valuable to a Prince ? 

" Canada stands side by side with the United States, — a memorial 
of successful, as contrasted with foolish legislation. The one reminds 
us how much may be effected by timely, liberal, and considerate mea- 
sures of concession ; the other, now that every animosity has died 
away, remains a useful warning to statesmen, of the dangers of a 
violent, obstinate policy. 

In 1838, Lord Durham in one of his despatches dwelt in strong 
terms upon the mortifying contrast which the Canadian provinces 
offered, to the energetic prosperity of the neighbouring states. Its 
moral, we are sure, will not be offered to an unheeding ear. The 
Prince will wonder at the triumphs of energy, and skill, and daring, 
which will everywhere meet his view." 

We re-entered the United States in the direction of 
New York ; and in passing, enjoyed the scenery of Lake 
Champlain and Lake George. America, like most other 
countries, enjoys a popularity in her watering-places. 
Fort George was the first of these we visited ; and the 
bold scenery of the surrounding hills, together with the 
cool presence of the lake, indicated a well-chosen spot for 
an exhilarating effect. Our next visit was to Saratoga, a 
place of greater notoriety for fashion and display during 
the season. The town consisted principally of very mag- 



UNITED STATES. 169 

nificent hotels, and was well provided for the reception 
and amusement of the citizens of the north, and the plant- 
ers of the south, who resort thither to escape from the 
enervating effects of heat and fever. During the month 
of August, which is the favourite month, the visitors 
assemble to the extent of ten or twelve thousand ; and in 
the course of a season, as many as thirty thousand stran- 
gers are said to reside in the town for longer or shorter 
periods. The water of the wells was slightly chalybeate, 
but not disagreeably so. One of our visits to the public 
grounds was early in the morning, and we soon discovered 
that an important-looking elderly gentleman was suffering 
from an attack of curiosity. He met and passed us seve- 
ral times ; and at length ventured to "guess" that we 
were British, and as he supposed we might be from that 
northern part called Scotland. He hastened through the 
usual inquiries of how long we had been in the country, — 
what parts we had visited, — and how we liked it. He 
next proceeded with a running commentary upon the po- 
licy adopted by General Jackson, and others of the lead- 
ing statesmen of his country ; expressing the alarm which 
he felt at the ultimate danger from the " rowdy " politicians, 
and from the corruptions now so notorious in Congress. 

From what we saw of the gentlemen visitors, there 
was an absence of the usual desire for active exercise. 
They formed themselves into groups, indulged very much 
in tobacco, and most of them were indifferent about dress : 
whilst among the ladies, the affair of dress and parade was 
much overdone. 

We were told how much we should be impressed with 
the glory of an American autumn at the watering-places, 



170 A TOUR IN THE 

and the display of the nouvelle riche in the latest Parisian 
styles. And there were occasions when we were remin- 
ded of the amusement afforded by an American writer, 
who gave a fanciful sketch of "Life at Saratoga/' He 
says — u The worthy fashionables of every state flock to the 
springs. This, of course, awakes emulation between the 
eastern, middle, and southern states ; and every lady here- 
upon finding herself charged in a manner with the weight 
of her country's dignity and style, dresses, and dashes, 
and sparkles without mercy at her competitors from every 
part of the Union. " At Saratoga everyone appeared bent 
upon enjoyment, in one form or another. At the next 
place we visited, the predominating feature was stem self- 
denial. 

The Shaker Settlement of Water vliet, near Albany, is 
an establishment of singular interest, and is based upon 
religious socialism. The household consists of ninety 
persons, all of whom conform to a costume in dress, and 
carry themselves with an air of religious solemnity. The 
uniform adopted by the men, was a tight-fitting dress 
reaching nearly to the ground. The females wore a close- 
fitting dress suspended from the shoulders, and not con- 
tracted at the waist, — provoking the facetious reminder of 
" a walking razor strop/ ' 

The principal informed us that the founder of this 
religious order was Ann Lee, aided by a small number of 
fellow-professors. That without the adoption of any par- 
ticular creed, they had formed themselves into a religious 
union ; and by indefatigable industry had cleared the 
forest and formed a settlement in this place. They en- 
tertain the belief that matrimony is a civil institution, 



UNITED STATES. 171 

which is proper for mankind in their natural state, but 

that it does not consort with the condition of those who 
conceive that they are of that select number of the true 
followers of Christ, who are enjoined to "forsake the 
world, and to crueify the flesh with all the affections and 
desires thereof." 

The leading peculiarity of their religious character 
consists in the exercise of their devotions. When as- 
sembled for this purpose, they become seized with a state 
of agitation of body and limbs, and are seen running 
about under a variety of excited movements ; which, as 
they conceive, are the outward signs of spiritual activity. 
Meanwhile, they are uttering solemn expressions, denounc- 
ing ail iniquity. 

The floor of the church is appropriated for the exercise 
of the devotional dance ; a scene in which they are trip- 
ping about in a state of extacy ; their arms extended, 
their hands hanging down, expressing then joy for the 
victory over the power of darkness. They believe that this 
form of worship is in accordance with the timbrels and 
dances which were deemed to have been well-pleasing in 
the Divine sight. 

EMIGRATION. 

We found abundant evidence of the successful results 
of emigration from Great Britain, and from Ireland ; but 
we also met with three cases of disappointment. A 
steamboat passenger on Lake Champlain, who had left 
this country about thirty years ago, entered into a com- 
parison of the two countries, and referring to his own ex- 
perience of the comforts of families, and the economy of 



172 A TOUR IN THE 

living, he entertained the impression that in these respects 
he had not been a gainer by the change he had made. 
In his remarks concerning his own family, he expressed 
himself with very proper feeling, and observed, that in 
England the father is the acknowledged head of the 
family, receives due deference from its members, and is 
addressed and listened to with a feeling of love and de- 
votedness. He had found that in the families of most 
persons in America it was not so ; parental authority, if 
it existed at all, is greatly enfeebled. He complained that 
money did not go so far in making purchases as in Eng- 
land., more especially in clothing, and particularly in 
shoes. He also remarked upon the deteriorating effect 
upon the constitutional vigour of the people. Eeferring 
to the tombstones in the cemeteries, he had found that 
those who had been born in England were much longer- 
lived than the Americans were ; and in their physical 
power the Americans were inferior in every way. 

Another case we met with was that of a station-master, 
a native of Berwick-upon-Tweed. He possessed the ap- 
pearance of a shrewd Scotchman, and remarked that the 
generality of emigrants did not realise all the advantages 
they had been led to expect. When a working man came 
over without any money, and looked upon the wages of a 
dollar a-day, he concluded that such a sum would do great 
things for him ; and afterwards found he had been widely 
mistaken. Speaking of the hours and regulations of labour, 
he said that in earning a dollar of wages a man had to labour 
harder and for longer hours than he did in England ; that 
in England the hours of labour were usually ten hours a 
day, but the Americans knew of no such regulation ; they 



UNITED STATES. 173 

were not easily satisfied, and would grudge to see a man 
rise from his labour even to straighten his back. The 
most pitiable case of a disappointed emigrant was a waiter 
at an hotel at Utica. We discovered from his broad 
Scotch dialect that he must have emigrated ; he made free 
to inquire about the "old country," and afterwards he 
gave the following account of himself: — That he was 
a native of Koss-shire, and had been very much taken with 
the political charter of Feargus O'Connor, so much so 
that he considered it would be degrading to him to remain 
in a country where he could never expect to enjoy the pri- 
vilege of a vote ; that he considered it would be worth 
any effort to get to America, where he could obtain one. 
At New York he discovered that he had made a mistake. 
After remarking upon the arbitrary dealings of the Scotch 
proprietary, and their system of clearances, — "What think 
you, said he ? I consider the tyranny I met with in New 
York is far worse. No sooner had I landed, than I found 
myself beset by a lot of fellows they call l runners/ and 
they inquired how soon I was going westward ? They 
came alongside of me in the street, dogged my footsteps 
wherever I went, and kept up the annoyance about going 
westward : then they would be telling me that they would 
not allow me to remain there, hanging about the city and 
looking for employment ; — that they had plenty of such 
as I was, and if I did not get away it would be worse for 
me." Having been expelled from the city in this manner, 
he had proceeded westward several hundreds of miles, and 
the first place where he found employment was in this 
hotel, and in a very low capacity as porter. He had since 
been promoted to the service of table waiter, but had no 



J 74 A TOUR IN THE 

sort of satisfaction, for his work seemed never to get 
finished, and he was often on the premises so long that 
he had only four hours for sleep. He had found, too, that 
his vote would not be allowed until he had resided five 
years in the country : and at length he abruptly declared 
that there was more tyranny in that place — meaning 
Utica — than in all Scotland, and he had often wished him- 
self back again. Such cases are no doubt exceptional. 
Of the acknowledged well-being of emigrants, we require 
no higher testimony than the following extract from the 
address of Sir J. P. K. Shuttle worth, Bart., at the Social 
Science meeting held at Bradford, in October, 1859. 
He said — " There is scarcely a more touching incident in 
our national history than the fact that the Irish emigrants 
to North America have, since the failure of the potato crop 
and the famine of 1846, sent £9,000,000 sterling to their 
relatives in Ireland, to enable them to follow." 

From Albany to New York by the Hudson river we 
had a very beautiful sail, and could sometimes see through 
the openings into the distant valleys of the lofty Catskill 
Mountains. We remained one night at West Point, a 
prominent headland or plateau overlooking the river. The 
scenery was remarkably line and bold : the site has 
been selected for the Military Academy of the United 
States, and they have 3,000 graduates receiving education 
in every branch of the military art. Having reached New 
York, we employed the little time we had before sailing, 
in re-considering the varied scenes we had witnessed, and 
in noting our remarks upon the institutions of leading 
interest in the country. These we reserve for our conclud- 
ing lecture. 



UNITED STATES, 175 



SEVENTH LECTURE, 



It might with confidence be asserted, that throughout 

the history of the world no event has ever happened of a 
more remarkable or eventful character, than the discovery 
of the Continent of America by Christopher Columbus, in 
the year 1492. It was a country of vast extent, present- 
ing a surface mainly consisting of forests and swamps, 
swarming with insects, and. as a natural consequence, in- 
salubrious. The inhabitants were an aboriginal race, 
living solely on the wild animals they obtained from the 
chase. They were constantly disputing for the possession 
of proprietary rights over immense deserts ; and it may be 
supposed that there was an impossibility in fixing any 
recognised boundaries among those hordes of savage 
people, who, whilst they roamed from forest to forest in 
the pursuit of game, reckoned nothing of a hundred 
leagues of territory : the usages of the chase being equi- 
valent to the claims derived from culture. Taking a 
deliberate survey of that vast continent, and bearing in 
mind that although it was 3,000 years in arrear of the 
knowledge of human arts, no one could hesitate to con- 
clude that it had been reserved to fulfil some assigned 
share in the duties of creation. There was a coast which 
was admirably adapted for commerce ; there were rivers 
wide and deep for navigation ; and the whole continent 



176 A TOUR IN THE 

held out the promise of fertility as the future abode of a 
great nation and a powerful community. It was generally 
allowed that the territories should belong to whatever 
European nation was the first to make discovery of them; 
and in this scramble for possession, the British secured 
nearly the whole line of North American coast. The 
power of the British in Europe had become greatly ex- 
alted ; and her dominions in America extended from the 
Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay, and from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the Mississippi Eiver. No sooner had peaceful 
possession been concluded, than the British Parliament 
contrived a scheme of taxation. The adoption of 
this arbitrary policy required a standing army. It was 
therefore proposed that the expenses should be sustained 
by the colonists; or, in other words, by the parties whom 
the army was intended to overbear. 

The Secretary-at-War, Mr. Wilbore Ellis, in bringing 
forward the estimates of the year, included in his proposi- 
tion a standing army of twenty regiments for America, 
and stated, in explanation, that these regiments were to 
be supported for the first }^ear only by the British Exche- 
quer, and ever afterwards by the colonists themselves. 
The colonists demurred ; the British Ministry became 
exasperated, and declared that they would tolerate no fur- 
ther the disobedience to royal instructions, nor bear with 
the claim of the lower " Houses of Assembly" in the colo- 
nies to the right of deliberating on their votes of supply, 
like the Parliament of the mother country. The judges 
and other public officers held their appointments at the 
King's pleasure, so that, in effect, there was a civil garrison 
in the authority of Great Britain holding the colonists 



UNITED STATES. 177 

under obedience. The immediate object was to obtain a 
colonial revenue which should be disposed of by the 
British Ministry under the sign-manual of the King. It 
was, however, a settled purpose of the colonists, that no 
tax should be imposed upon the inhabitants of a British 
plantation but by their own Assembly as assenting parties. 

Nor was it surprising that the House of Commons should 
listen with complacency to a military scheme which, at 
the expense of the colonies, should hold out the hope of 
twenty new appointments as colonels, besides other offices 
that might be supplied out of the families of the members.. 
The absence of any necessity for all those troops in time 
of peace was but too obvious, except to enforce taxation, 
and obedience to laws which the colonists had no voice in 
enacting; and this was repugnant to their ideas of freedom. 
The first measure to raise revenue in the colonies, was a 
Stamp Act ; and following this, there were other taxes 
imposed to defray the expenses of this army. The delibe- 
rate character of these proceedings was calculated to 
alarm, if not to arouse the displeasure even of the calmest 
of the American statesmen. They considered it an attack 
on their constitutional rights ; and the first memorable 
opposition came from the General Assembly at Xew York. 
They pleaded with the King concerning their courts of 
law, the hrfluence of the governors, and the uncontrolled 
power exercised in the colony ; all of which had assumed 
an aspect of terror, and the parties could not be impeached. 

It was the wish of the colonists that the independence 

of these courts of law should be established, not only on 

account of the security thus afforded to the rights and 

liberties of the subject, but also as conducive to the honour 
M 



178 A TOUR IN THE 

of the Crown. The voice of the Assembly, u supplicat- 
ing with the most respectful humility," was allowed to go 
unheeded. Lord North and the Treasury Board decided 
confirmatory of the exercise of the King's pleasure, not 
only in the appointments, but in the salaries also. The 
petition having been disregarded, the people became in- 
creasingly discontented, and entered into associations for 
preventing the importation of British manufactures until 
the obnoxious Stamp Act was repealed; and at length it 
was repealed, amidst universal joy, and trade was renewed 
on the most liberal footing. It would, however, have been 
a mistake to suppose that in making this surrender, the 
British Parliament were about to relinquish the idea of 
raising revenue in the colonies. The year following they 
passed an act imposing a duty on glass, tea, paper, and 
printers' colours. This enactment rekindled the exaspera- 
tion of the colonists, and excited a general opposition, so 
that in the year 1770 these duties were repealed, excepting a 
charge of 3d. per pound upon tea. It will at once be perceived 
how inflexible were the colonists in their determination not 
to admit the principle of taxation without representation. 

The English Government, finding themselves foiled in 
the tea duties, handed over the scheme to the East India 
Company, who freighted several ships, and sent them over, 
in charge of factors to dispose of the cargoes. The 
Americans looked upon this as an indirect mode of taxa- 
tion ; therefore they prevented the landing of the tea, and 
a number of persons boarded the ships as they were tying 
in Boston harbour, and, without doing any other damage, 
broke open 342 chests of tea, and discharged their contents 
into the water. The British Parliament, acting under the 



UNITED STATES. J 79 

exasperation of the moment, passed a law to discontinue 
and put an end to the mercantile port of Boston. The 
Americans, in no way intimidated, but, on the contrary, 
aroused with this repetition of the arbitrary designs of 
government, became united in a more determined form of 
opposition. They appointed a Congress of Deputies to 
meet at Philadelphia, and to coneert measures for the pre- 
servation of their rights. Bodies of militia were speedily 
raised and trained to the use of arms ; powder manufac- 
tories were established, and military stores procured. 

Without entering upon the manner in which the British 
Parliament undertook to quell the insurrectionary move- 
ment of the colonists, by proclaiming martial law, we 
discover by the course of their proceedings that the first 
blood of the British army was shed at Lexington, in 1775. 
Here was opened the first scene of a wonderful drama, 
which severed the American people from the dominion of 
the British empire ; — which, in the course of its progress, 
exhibited the most illustrious characters and events, and 
closed with a revolution glorious for the actors, and espe- 
cially important in its consequences to mankind. 

In 1776 the congress of deputies at Philadelphia pub- 
lished the " Declaration of Independence, " which sepa- 
rated America from Great Britain, under the title of "The 
United States." This occurred 284 years after the dis- 
covery of America by Columbus, 166 years from the first 
British settlement in Virginia, and 156 years from the 
landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, Massachusetts. 
On the 30th November, 1782, the provisional articles of 
peace and reconciliation between Great Britain and the 
American States were signed at Paris, whereby the former 



180 A TOUR IN THE 

acknowledged the independence and sovereignty of the 
United States of America. These articles were ratified by 
a definitive treaty September 3rd, 1783, and thus ended a 
long and arduous conflict, in which Great Britain expended 
nearly one hundred millions sterling, sacrificed one hun- 
dred thousand lives, and gained nothing. 

America endured very great cruelty and distress from 
her enemies, lost many lives and much treasure, but de- 
livered herself from foreign dominion and injustice, and 
established her rank among the nations of the earth. 
From*this, the starting point of her history, it will be ad- 
mitted that the deliberations of the statesmen of the 
Union, and the measures adopted for its advancement, 
have been productive of an untold extent of national pros- 
perity. At this period the number of the States was only 
thirteen, and all the inhabitants they contained amounted 
to three millions — a wonderfully small force to resist the 
power of an ancient monarchy. As a constitutional go- 
vernment, which dates, as it were, from yesterday, the first 
elements consisted of an unselected mass of adventurers 
from Europe — emigrants who had arrived at different 
periods, who differed from each other in many respects, 
and who, if they had any definite ideas of the functions of 
a government, most probably disagreed in many important 
particulars. Poverty and misfortune had laid down a 
guarantee of their equality; and, in the absence of any 
acknowledged superiority of rank, they adopted, in accord- 
ance with their own outward condition, the elements of a 
democracy. Upon this foundation they based that politi- 
cal constitution upon which their country should be made 
to flourish. The form of government they laid down was 



UNITED STATES. 181 

a federal republic — each of the States having a constitu- 
tion for the management of its own internal affairs, and all 
of them being formed into one united body, as a "Federal 
Constitution. 7 ' 

The legislative power still existing is vested in a Con- 
gress of delegates from the several States, divided into 
two distinct bodies — the Senate and the House of Kepre- 
sentatives. The members of the latter are elected every 
two years by the people, and the senators every six years 
by the State Legislatures. The executive power is vested 
in a President, chosen every four years. The constitution 
guarantees, for ever, freedom of syjeech and the liberty of 
the press. In the eye of the law all the inhabitants are 
equal. Hereditary titles and distinctions are prohibited. 
There is no law to establish any particular form of reli- 
gion, or to prevent the free exercise of it ; and no religious 
test is required as a qualification for any office of public 
trust in the United States. 

The spectacle of a people founding a home, and de- 
signing a constitution, in the remoteness of the West, is 
one which abounds in interest, not alone in relation to the 
development of wealth, but in the establishing of all the 
institutions and habits of the people. It was obviously 
their design, in forming a community, to escape as far as 
possible from the errors which had caused the expulsion 
of the British portion of them from their native land. 
They studiously avoided class privileges, and allowed no 
supremacy in religious sects. Democracy found favour in 
every department. Amongst the settlers in these thirteen 
States there conlcl be no disparity in their circumstances. 
The land itself sustained them, and, although full of fer- 



182 A TOUR IN THE 

tility, it could not uphold the two classes, those of pro- 
prietor and occupier ; therefore the owner was himself the 
cultivator, and it must have been from this class mainly 
that the legislators had to be procured. These men pos- 
sessed a strong sense of justice, with an ardent love of 
liberty ; and their proceedings were seasoned with the 
spirit of religion. 

They adopted universal suffrage as their basis of 
representation, aad under the circumstances, it may be 
asked, Whom could they have excluded ? We will not 
discuss the subject of the franchise. It has been remarked 
by De Tocqueville, " that universal suffrage is far from 
producing in America, either all the good or all the evil 
consequences which are assigned to it in Europe. " 

THE BALLOT. 

The secrecy of the ballot has been strongly reflected 
upon in this country. Whilst in America, we never heard 
of any dissatisfaction or desire for open voting, as a more 
eligible system ; on the contrary, it was uniformly defend- 
ed even by those who made no secret of the candidate 
whom they had chosen to support. In the cities of the 
frontier, where one-half the population are foreigners, it is 
alleged that the secrecy of the ballot does not provide 
against the corruption that exists : indeed, it would be 
difficult to provide a remedy against bribery where the 
parties who desire to corrupt, find that they have easy 
access to those who are willing to be corrupted. In the 
interior of the country we are willing to suppose that the 
case is somewhat different ; and on this head we have the 
high authority of the Earl of Carlisle, who visited the 



UNITED STATES. 183 

United States not many years ago. He says — 

"Elections may seem the universal business, the topic and passion 
of life ; but these are, at least with but few exceptions, carried on 
without any reproach of tumult, rudeness, or disorder ; those which 
I happened to see, were the most sedate, unimpassioned processes I can 
imagine. In the Free States, at least, the people at large bear an 
active, and I believe on the whole, a useful part in the concerns of in- 
ternal government and practical daily life." 

Speaking of the condition of the people, he also said — ■ 

"The feature which is the most obvious, and probably the most 
inevitable, is the nearly entire absence, certainly the appearance in a 
great degree, of the reality of poverty. In no part of the world, I 
imagine, is there so much general comfort amongst the great bulk o* 
the people ; and a gushing abundance struck me as the permanent 
character of the land." 

Adding, with his own generous sympathy, the remark — 

" It is not easy to describe how far this conssderation goes to brighten 
the face of nature, and to give room for its undisturbed enjoyment." 

We have remarked npon the inferiority and the corrupt 
character of some of the representatives returned to the 
legislature ; and there are those in this country, who 
insist that this has been the result of universal suffrage 
and the ballot. Perhaps this allegation may be more 
easily made than correct^ ascertained. At that eventful 
period when America was struggling to establish her posi- 
tion as a new political organisation, and as a nation, there 
was ever present the resounding of a high-toned appeal to 
the distinguished of her citizens, and the men were found 
who were equal to the emergency. In recent times, the 
proceedings of Congress have assumed a more formal 
character ; the wants of the Union have not been of equal 
magnitude ; and the members returned have been common- 



184 A TOUR IN THE 

place men. They have lowered the estimation of the 
house ; and the remedy, whenever it may be applied, will 
probably be complete, and not of a partial or progressive 
character. If so disappointing a result in the United 
States has been attributable to universal suffrage and the 
ballot, how shall we account for the unblushing corruption 
in the u Legislative Assembly n of the adjoining province 
of Canada, based upon a £6 franchise with open voting ? 
We happened to be present when the subject under dis- 
cussion was the incorporation of the " Great Southern 
Kail way Company" and the disclosures of peculation and 
jobbing on the part of the members were so flagrant, that 
at length one of the members interposed, and appealed to 
the house upon the " sacred duty' 7 of ceasing to criminate 
one another, if they entertained the hope of inducing the 
capitalists of Europe to afford any future aid in carrying 
out enterprises necessary for the prosperity of the 
province. 

It is therefore apparent, that in the United States 
and Canada, and perhaps in all new countries, the organ- 
ised machinery of legislation, however perfect in itself, 
remains for a time incapable of diffusing all the blessings 
of good government, more especially if unaided by com- 
petent minds to hold the presiding authority, and to give 
right direction to all those purposes which minister to the 
well-being of a community. No doubt that in both these 
countries the unsettled habits and pursuits of the people, 
and the impatient scramble for the " Almighty dollar," 
have taken the lead for a time, of every consideration. 
Meanwhile, great irregularities are being committed and 
are tolerated, because the individual affairs of the gene- 



UNITED STATES. 185 

rality of men so folly absorb their thoughts, that they feel 
indifferent to the concerns of public life. 

It may reasonably be anticipated that the growth of 
political and social intelligence will arouse them to action ; 
but we cannot ignore the errors they have already com- 
mitted ; nor yet resist the conclusion that, on the whole, 
their policy has been eminently successful. The surface 
of political life has been most frantically bedecked with 
singular names and designations of political parties, indica- 
ting adverse opinions ; yet amidst all this apparent con- 
fusion, they have been as a community wisely bound to- 
gether upon objects of common interest. No doubt the libe- 
ral character of their constitution, and the wise policy of 
their rulers, has inspired confidence, attracted settlers, and 
afforded the inducement for outlay of capital to an enor- 
mous extent, and that, too, within a period of time almost 
incredibly short. 

As an evidence of the progress and material prosper- 
ity of the country, it may be stated that in the course of 
eighty years since they have had their affairs in their own 
hands, the Union has been increased from 13 to 31 States, 
and seven territories which are becoming states, and the 
inhabitants are multiplied nearly ten-fold. The leading 
characteristic of the whole people is that of glowing 
patriotism and a buoyant expectation of a great future for 
their country. In numerous instances we met with exhi- 
bitions of family pride, derived from their kindred with 
the first founders of the states ; and there were other 
instances in which the parties appeared vain-glorious, and 
claimed their descent from noble families in England. 
These are the leading features of change which have 



186 A TOUR IN THE 

come over a people descended from the same parentage 
as ourselves. 

They naturally enough have tried to avoid what have 
been our errors, and to improve upon our example. Many 
of them left this country when our laws were less liberal 
and tolerant than they now are, and they may have 
cherished recollections somewhat unfriendly ; but it is 
quite evident that underlying this impression there is a 
liking for the "Old Country" which they cannot and do 
not affect to disguise. It is the delight of the more 
wealthy to visit this country, prompted, no doubt, by de- 
sires which are commendable, and in many cases inspired 
by valued traditional reminiscences. They search out the 
locality of their ancestors ; the houses in which they had 
dwelt, the places in which they had worshipped, the paro- 
chial registers in which the generations of their forefathers 
had been recorded ; and do not forget the heraldic distinc- 
tions which their families had claimed. They do not fail 
to recognise the progress of this country ; they acknow- 
ledge that the British are a great people, and hardly con- 
ceal their jealousy of being excelled in the great race of 
human advancement. It will be admitted that a period 
of fourscore years measures only a short span in the pro- 
gress of a country, yet the American people conclude that, 
theoretically speaking, they have drawn out the best form 
of constitution that human wisdom could devise. 

The Senate contains a large proportion of celebrated 
men, — they are the elect of the State elections. Yet they 
are not holding a position so dignified as to escape from 
imputations. Of the House of Eepresentatives, De Tocque- 
ville remarks, " One is struck by the vulgar demeanour of 



UNITED STATES. 187 

that great assembly;" and, as we have before remarked, 
there is but too much truth in the venal character of them 
as a body. 

JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION. 

Their judicial courts are by no means free from re- 
proach. Having reference to our oath, the contrast will 
appear remarkable. In the wisdom and experience of ages 
the distinction of being selected as one of our court judges 
has become the acknowledged reward of the highest order 
of mind ; and their painstaking and unswerving rectitude 
of conduct, together with the unimpeachable character of 
our juries, have established an independence and moral 
excellence for our jurisprudence such as is probably un- 
known elsewhere. In the appointment of judges for the 
supreme courts of the United States, the possession of 
office is held for life, and the salaries are about £1,000 a 
year; but the judges under the State constitutions are 
elected by the people for terms of years, and thus the 
judgment -seat is held subordinate to the popular will. 
There is a want of dignity in many of the judges, their 
salaries are very meagre, there is a disregard or want of 
respect for them prevailing among the people, and the 
courts do not possess their confidence. The common law 
of England is nominally adhered to as the basis of the 
legislation of the States, although every State makes its 
own laws ; and the juries sometimes undertake to decide 
not only the fact, but the law also. The jury system does 
not work well ; those who admit that they have formed 
opinions of the case, are ineligible ; and therefore cases 
sometimes occur in which hundreds maybe struck off upon 






188 A TOUR IN THE 

this admission, who, had they been allowed to remain, 
might have been fit and proper persons to decide the case 
in question. It is well known that jurors allow themselves 
to be exposed to influences ; and one of the judges himself 
informed us that a jury empanelled for the duties of a day 
would contrive to disagree, and report their disagreement, 
upon the first case brought before them, knowing that 
thereby they should get their release from the court. The 
governors of individual states, in like manner, are subject 
to the popular will, — they are screwed down in their sala- 
ries till the official dignity, if not the authority, is starved 
out of them. "We had a conversation with one who was 
evidently too good for his salary of £800 a-year, but by 
no means too good for his place. 

The patriotism which the American people feel, has 
relation to their country as a whole. They have no idea 
of the exalted position derived from a family estate or a 
territorial investment, such as a man of wealth in this 
country would look upon with delight as a possession, or 
as an inheritance for his children. They seek prosperity, 
power, and reputation ; almost all have a determination to 
rise, although but few have lofty or expansive views. The 
people are generally intelligent, but they appear to pos- 
sess no recognised standard of cultivation or refinement. 
There is great freedom, and but little etiquette ; an inde- 
pendence which borders on rudeness amongst the inferior 
class : and it may be said the states have made only a 
beginning in the cultivation of a taste for the fine arts. 
There is amongst them an absence of physical exercise 
which is very enervating ; they deem it a bore and a waste 
of time to engage in bodily exercise of any kind, and do 



UNITED STATES. 189 

not find pleasure in the active employment of the muscles 
in hearty, wholesome recreation. The brain is set agoing 
early in life by violent thoughts of money, how to make 
and increase it, and not how they may healthfully enjoy 
it. Hence, as the American writers admit, the people are 
dwindling in stature, and every generation is weaker and 
more dwarfish than its predecessor. 

Miss Beecher, an American lady, in her " Letters on 
Health and Happiness/' says : — " The health of the Ame- 
rican people is perishing at a fearful ratio ; and while 
other nations train their children to be strong and healthy, 
we are training ours to be puny, sickly, and deformed." 
In proof of this she exhibits facts which show " that of the 
American women born in this century, probably not two 
in ten have the vigour and health of their maternal ances- 
tors, while probably more than half of them are either 
invalids or very delicate." She is " unable to call to 
mind as many as ten married ladies, born in the United 
States, who are perfectly sound, healthy, and vigorous." 
The subject of religion and religious establishments would 
afford a wide field for observation. It is evident that the 
voluntary principle has done nobly in America, and affords 
the amplest illustration of soundness, as applied to human 
action in the highest concerns of man. 

The temperance movement occupies a very leading 
position in almost every part of the country ; and whilst 
travelling through the States of Vermont and Maine, we 
regretted not to have met with all the information we were 
desirous of obtaining regarding the Liquor Law. In a 
town of considerable magnitude, in which we spent one 
night and part of the following day, we heard a good deal 



190 A TOUR IN THE 

of conversation amongst the guests at the hotel, princi- 
pally leading to the conclusion that the Liquor Law was 
extensively evaded. The proprietor of the hotel informed 
us that he had frequently seen casks of spirits opened and 
discharged into the street ; that he had often been fined, 
but that there was great moderation exercised by the 
authorities, and that when he had paid about as much in 
penalties as he had formerly been used to pay for a licence, 
he had no fear of any further inroad upon him for that year 
at all events. At Albany, a temperance convention was 
holding its sittings, which continued for several days ; 
they met in the capitol of the State of New York, and 
deputies were in attendance from very distant parts of the 
country. We observed that their arguments were chiefly 
in favour of " moral suasion." 

SLAVERY. 

At the time of the revolution, there was a considerable 
number of negro slaves in several of the States, intro- 
duced from Africa during the colonial administration. The 
institution has now assumed the character of a vested in- 
terest, and the subject has occasioned much angry discus- 
sion betwixt the Northern and the Southern States, 
threatening the dismemberment of the Union. Many of 
the planters are holding by inheritance the slaves they 
employ on their plantations, and the legislature of the 
Union has confirmed their right. The moral right which 
is involved has been sought to be justified by the autho- 
rity of Scripture, and a prudential claim has been based 
on the plea that the negro belongs to an inferior race. By 
way of confirmation of this conclusion, the planters insist 



UNITED STATES. 191 

that their plea of inferiority of race is most fully affirmed 
by the conduct of the Abolitionists of the Xorth, -who 
systematically exclude from their intercourse, and almost 
from their presence, not only the blacks, but those who 
betray the slightest trace of colouring of the African race. 
Separate churches and separate schools are provided for 
them, and neither character, nor wealth, nor style of dress 
will procure their admission into the presence of the white 
man, whether in an hotel, a railway car, or even an omni- 
bus. How, then, shall we affect any surprise that the 
planter of the South should become restive under the re- 
buke of the Northern philanthropist, whose conduct to the 
negro so strongly confirms this impression ? 

The controversy on slavery in the United States has 
been one of an exciting and complicated character. The 
power to emancipate is existing in the individual States 
separately, and not in the general government ; therefore 
the efforts of public opinion have been fruitless, except in 
cases in which the appeal has been made to single States. 
In the course of 17 years after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, no fewer than 8 out of the 13 States of the 
Union had emancipated their slaves. They found, how- 
ever, that the ignorance and vice of these free blacks be- 
came a growing trouble, and the benevolent designs of 
Franklin for their elevation were abandoned as imprac- 
ticable ; indeed, the prejudice against the African race be- 
came so great, that the whole of them, freemen as well as 
slaves, were looked upon as an intolerable burden. It was 
about the close of the last century that the great question 
began to be agitated — tl How shall the slave trade be sup- 
pressed?" and the philanthropic Wilberforce had begun 



192 A TOUR IN THE 

the achievement of his triumphs. Almost at the same 
time, an impetus was given to slave cultivation by the 
amazing increase of the demand for cotton, arising out of 
the successful inventions of Watt, Arkwright, and Cromp- 
ton. The slaves in the cotton- growing states were no 
longer considered in the light of an incumbrance. The 
planters extended the area of slavery at home, and laid 
the foundation of a steady progress in outstripping the 
cotton- growers of other parts of the world, and securing 
to themselves the supply of all the markets of Europe. 

The " Domestic Institution," so called, has been con- 
stantly receiving heavy blows of remonstrance from the 
Northern States ; but its vitality has ever been increasing, 
more especially in the cotton districts, in which it appears 
to have found a settled home. In those of the Northern 
States immediately bordering upon the cotton range, such 
as Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky, slavery has not been 
abolished ; and in these parts the most odious phase of 
slavery is still rampant, namely, the raising of slaves to 
be annually sold off to the dealers, for removal to the 
plantations of the south, involving, as it does, the sepa- 
ration of the members of families, and an utter disregard 
of the nearest ties of kindred. 

There is nothing can be said in regard to climate in 
palliation of the continuance of slavery in these more 
northern states, as in the case of cotton, rice, and sugar 
culture, which is carried on amidst swamps, and under a 
burning tropical sun. On the contrary, the climate of the 
three states named is admitted to be quite congenial to the 
white race. In the cultivation of cereal crops, the labour 
of the negro is more expensive and less effective than that 



UNITED STATES, 193 

of the whites ; therefore, on economic grounds, the system 
of retaining slaves for grain cultivation is condemned. 
There is therefore not only no necessity, but great moral 
guilt in the system ; and although the individual 'states 
may not choose of themselves to abolish slavery by law, 
it is understood that it is in course of dying out. 

It is said that the exhaustion of the land by tobacco 
and other culture, is inducing the owmers to leave the 
country for the more promising west ; and these lands are 
being bought up for cultivation by the white race, so that 
by a change of ownership the stain upon the country may 
eventually become obliterated. The concentration of sla- 
very in the south has followed the enormous and growing 
importance of slave products. The commercial value of 
these may be estimated from the fact that the last cotton 
crop has been estimated at 45 millions sterling ; and in 
addition to this large amount there is the unknown value 
of the other slave productions of sugar, rice, and tobacco. 
Judging from the outcry of the Northern Free States, it 
might have been expected that slavery within the pre- 
cincts of the Union could not have held out for so long a 
period. But no one acquainted with the state of the coun- 
try, can resist the conclusion that the individual interests 
existing in the north, and derived from so vast a number 
of millions falling annually from the hand of the planter, 
is a sustaining element. The pursuits of many of the free 
states are intimately interwoven with the success of sla- 
very ; those of Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and other states 
too far north to grow cotton, are very much sustained by 
the raising of provisions for the slave states. These sup- 
ply horses and other animals for the plantations ; they 



194 A TOUR IN THE 

raise an immense number of hogs, to be slaughtered and 
barrelled as pickled pork. Along with the pork and beef 
there is annually produced an incalculable amount of 
Indian corn, wheat, barley, potatoes, and other descriptions 
of food, all of which is sent down the Mississippi, for slave 
consumption. 

The money value of the live animals and the food 
productions must amount to a very considerable sum ; so 
large that, judging from the steamers freighting at Cincin- 
natti and other places, the proprietary of those states 
must share from ten to fifteen millions a-year of the slave- 
earned gold. However obnoxious the system, it was 
underlying their own prosperity, and they appeared in no 
haste to have it disturbed, much less destroyed. The 
bankers of New York are enjoying a lucrative business 
in the discounting of bills, and in conducting other large 
money transactions arising out of the dealings in slave 
produce ; the merchants of the northern cities derive their 
principal business from imports received in repayment for 
cotton or other slave-grown produce ; and the proprietors 
of the mercantile navy, who freight and carry away these 
exports, may all of them be reckoned amongst the num- 
berless pillars that uphold the institution of slavery. But 
amongst the other varied interests concerned, and not the 
least important of them, is that of the manufacturers of 
New England, who supply the clothing for the negroes, 
and receive by way of acknowledgment the quietus of a 
tariff which leaves about thirty per cent, in their favour. 

u Northern men," says Mr. Chambers, "seek to con- 
ciliate the south for the sake of selfish interests. " And, 
alluding to the manufacturers, he remarks, " All the cloth- 



UNITED STATES, 195 

ing, shoes, hats, and other articles required on the south- 
ern plantations are imported coast- wise from the northern 
manufacturers, so that in reality the case stands thus— 
The south pretends to be democratic, and votes for pro- 
tection; and the north in return votes for slavery." 
There can be no doubt that in the various states of the 
Union there are many honest and sincere men, who deeply 
deplore the reproach which the system of slavery has 
brought upon their country, and who would themselves 
be prepared to make enormous sacrifices to enable the 
negroes to obtain their freedom ; but it is very obvious 
that there is a far more considerable numbers of others, 
who feel very chary about any legislative measure to over- 
turn an institution which is of such importance to them- 
selves. It is unmistakably evident that the great majority 
of the citizens consider the institution to be indispensable 
to the great interests of their country. In proof of this 
we may adduce the fact, that upon every successive elec- 
tion of President, they have made choice of one who be- 
longs to the pro-slavery party. The very last address, 
issued only a few months ago, by President Buchanan, 
contains the following paragraph, which amounts to a pal- 
liation if not to an open defence of slavery. He pro- 
ceeded to say- — " For a period of more than half a cen- 
tury, there has been no perceptible addition to the number 
of our domestic slaves. During this period the advance- 
ment in civilization has far surpassed that of any other 
portion of the African race. The light and blessings of 
Christianity have been extended to them, and both their 
moral and physical condition has been greatly improved/ ' 



J 96 A TOUR IX THE 

From the mellowed tints of these remarks commend- 
ing the advancement in civilization, morality, and Chris- 
tianity already attained by the negroes, it might have 
been expected that there would have followed a notifica- 
tion of some interest respecting the period, whether near 
or remote when these objects of his solicitude might be 
deemed fit to be entrusted with the charge of their own 
personal liberty : but upon this part of the subject his 
hearers were left in the dark. Whether Mr. Buchanan 
has been correct in his statement respecting the absence 
of any increase in the number of slaves, we will not stop 
to inquire ; the number is now reckoned at four millions, 
and the selling price of a good "field hand ".is £300 or 
upwards : on this account the money question which is 
involved in the affair, presents an obstacle to their libera- 
tion even more formidable than all the rest. Supposing 
that we were to estimate their value as a whole at £100 
each, we should have an amount of four hundred millions 
sterling, requiring to be disbursed to accomplish their 
freedom by purchase. 

Having before him so graphic an idea of the amount of 
difficulty, well might Mr. Everett inquire — u Has any one, 
whose opinion is entitled to the slighest respect, ever 
undertaken to sketch out the details of a plan for effecting 
abolition at once, by any legislative measure that could be 
adopted ?" It had also been prognosticated that the down- 
fall of slavery must be left to time, to economical causes, 
and the owners to the quiet reprobation of the world. 

Dr. C. W. Eddy, in his lecture before the Society of 
Arts, has remarked very emphatically — 



UNITED STATES. 197 

"I think the observing traveller in America, cannot tail to be 
struck with astonishment at the vast amount of work that has been 
achieved, of forests cleared, of land reclaimed, of roads, railroads, and 
canals constructed, and of cities built by a sparse and scattered popula- 
tion, in the brief period of time that has elapsed since the first peopling 
of the country. To enumerate only a few of the marvels of American 
progress, — that great scion of the English stock has already overspread 
a territory equal to all Europe in extent ; has dug 5,000 miles of canals, 
constructed 16,000 miles of railway, and built some half-dozen towns 
which rival in magnificence a like number of the capitals of Europe- 
It has formed a merchant navy, not inferior to our own, if the lake 
and river tonnage be (as is only fair) included in the comparison ; it is 
beginning to rival us in foreign commerce, and has supplanted us in 
the deep-sea fisheries : grows a cotton crop that goes far towards 
supplying the wants of the world, and produces a surplus of corn and 
provisions which feeds the West Indies and the eastern coast of South 
America, besides helping to maintain ourselves and several of our 
colonies. These are great results, and are the more surprising when it 
is considered that they have been achieved beneath a climate less fa- 
vourable to continuous exertion than our own, with summers whose 
relaxing heats unnerve the physical powers, and winters which for long 
months together bind nature in impenetrable folds of ice and snow. 
How, then, have these great results been accomplished ? how, but by 
the indomitable energies of that vigorous and ambitions race of which 
they are an offshoot ? — energies which are aided by an inventive faculty 
of a high order, and guided by the strong practical common sense 
which is their birthright. Place a people gifted with such powers as 
these on a territory so far severed from the old world, with all its social 
and political entanglements, that it may have free scope to fulfil the 
behest of replenishing the earth, and subduing it ; where, moreover, 
its numbers may be continually recruited by the boldest, most hardy, 
and adventurous spirits of the old world ; — and we need not wonder 
at the results we witness." 



By way of conclusion, let us form an estimate of the 
relative position of our own country and the United 
States, and balance the advantages :— 



L98 A TOUR IN THE 

America has a negro population mostly in slavery, and 
not much public debt. 

We are carrying a heavy debt, but it is resting on 
the shoulders of a free people. 

Give us the latter, rather than the former; and we 
repeat emphatically — 

6 i England, with all thy faults, we love thee still !" 






